- Listen to this message that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel and Judah—against the entire family I rescued from Egypt:
- "From among all the families on the earth, I have been intimate with you alone. That is why I must punish you for all your sins."
- Can two people walk together without agreeing on the direction?
- Does a lion ever roar in a thicket without first finding a victim? Does a young lion growl in its den without first catching its prey?
- Does a bird ever get caught in a trap that has no bait? Does a trap spring shut when there's nothing to catch?
- When the ram's horn blows a warning, shouldn't the people be alarmed? Does disaster come to a city unless the Lord has planned it?
- Indeed, the Sovereign Lord never does anything until he reveals his plans to his servants the prophets.
- The lion has roared— so who isn't frightened? The Sovereign Lord has spoken— so who can refuse to proclaim his message?
- Announce this to the leaders of Philistia[1] and to the great ones of Egypt: "Take your seats now on the hills around Samaria, and witness the chaos and oppression in Israel."
- "My people have forgotten how to do right," says the Lord. "Their fortresses are filled with wealth taken by theft and violence.
- Therefore," says the Sovereign Lord, "an enemy is coming! He will surround them and shatter their defenses. Then he will plunder all their fortresses."
- This is what the Lord says: "A shepherd who tries to rescue a sheep from a lion's mouth will recover only two legs or a piece of an ear. So it will be for the Israelites in Samaria lying on luxurious beds, and for the people of Damascus reclining on couches.[2]
- "Now listen to this, and announce it throughout all Israel,[3]" says the Lord, the Lord God of Heaven's Armies.
- "On the very day I punish Israel for its sins, I will destroy the pagan altars at Bethel. The horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.
- And I will destroy the beautiful homes of the wealthy— their winter mansions and their summer houses, too— all their palaces filled with ivory," says the Lord.
Witnesses against Guilty Israel
- Hebrew 'Ashdod.'
- Or 'So it will be when the Israelites in Samaria are rescued / with only a broken bed and a tattered pillow.'
- Hebrew 'the house of Jacob.' The names “Jacob” and “Israel” are often interchanged throughout the Old Testament, referring sometimes to the individual patriarch and sometimes to the nation.