When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give {it} in her hand, and send her out of his house. {some...: Heb. matter of nakedness} {divorcement: Heb. cutting off}

And it came to pass in the fourth year of king Hezekiah, which {was} the seventh year of Hoshea son of Elah king of Israel, {that} Shalmaneser king of Assyria came up against Samaria, and besieged it.

Thus saith the LORD, Where {is} the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors {is it} to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and {without} teraphim: {image: Heb. a standing, or, statue, or, pillar}

Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, {yet} let not Judah offend; and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The LORD liveth.

Plead with your mother, plead: for she {is} not my wife, neither {am} I her husband: let her therefore put away her whoredoms out of her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts;

They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man's, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD. {They say: Heb. Saying}

In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away into Assyria, and placed them in Halah and in Habor {by} the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.

And {if} the latter husband hate her, and write her a bill of divorcement, and giveth {it} in her hand, and sendeth her out of his house; or if the latter husband die, which took her {to be} his wife;

Yet hast thou not walked after their ways, nor done after their abominations: but, as {if that were} a very little {thing}, thou wast corrupted more than they in all thy ways. {as if...: or, that was lothed as a small thing}

Wherefore I have delivered her into the hand of her lovers, into the hand of the Assyrians, upon whom she doted.

All their wickedness {is} in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes {are} revolters.

And when her sister Aholibah saw {this}, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in {her} whoredoms. {she was...: Heb. she corrupted her inordinate love more than, etc} {more than...: Heb. more than the whoredoms of her sister}

Thus saith the LORD, Where {is} the bill of your mother's divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors {is it} to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.

And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except {it be} for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.

Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion:

And when her sister Aholibah saw {this}, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in {her} whoredoms. {she was...: Heb. she corrupted her inordinate love more than, etc} {more than...: Heb. more than the whoredoms of her sister}

When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill of divorcement, and give {it} in her hand, and send her out of his house. {some...: Heb. matter of nakedness} {divorcement: Heb. cutting off}

Neither hath Samaria committed half of thy sins; but thou hast multiplied thine abominations more than they, and hast justified thy sisters in all thine abominations which thou hast done.

They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?

And thine elder sister {is} Samaria, she and her daughters that dwell at thy left hand: and thy younger sister, that dwelleth at thy right hand, {is} Sodom and her daughters. {thy younger: Heb. lesser than thou}

And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for yet a little {while}, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of Israel. {avenge: Heb. visit}

Also Judah kept not the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.

The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him. {punish: Heb. visit upon}

Thou hast walked in the way of thy sister; therefore will I give her cup into thine hand.

For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD will feed them as a lamb in a large place.

All their wickedness {is} in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes {are} revolters.

O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast: she {is} the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion: for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee. {inhabitant: Heb. inhabitress}

And it came to pass about three months after, that it was told Judah, saying, Tamar thy daughter in law hath played the harlot; and also, behold, she {is} with child by whoredom. And Judah said, Bring her forth, and let her be burnt.

Yet the LORD testified against Israel, and against Judah, by all the prophets, {and by} all the seers, saying, Turn ye from your evil ways, and keep my commandments {and} my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets. {by: Heb. by the hand of}

Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, {and} all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would not hear {them}, nor do {them}.

But hast walked in the way of the kings of Israel, and hast made Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem to go a whoring, like to the whoredoms of the house of Ahab, and also hast slain thy brethren of thy father's house, {which were} better than thyself:

The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Hast thou seen {that} which backsliding Israel hath done? she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there hath played the harlot.

And I said after she had done all these {things}, Turn thou unto me. But she returned not. And her treacherous sister Judah saw {it}.

And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.

Surely {as} a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD. {husband: Heb. friend}

And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, {even} the whole seed of Ephraim.

What hath my beloved to do in mine house, {seeing} she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest. {What...: Heb. What is to my beloved in my house} {when...: or, when thy evil is}

{But as} a wife that committeth adultery, {which} taketh strangers instead of her husband!

Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? for the LORD hath created a new thing in the earth, A woman shall compass a man.