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Israel’s Guilt and Punishment

3Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:
² You only have I known
   of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you
   for all your iniquities.

³ Do two walk together
   unless they have made an appointment?
⁴ Does a lion roar in the forest,
   when it has no prey?
Does a young lion cry out from its den,
   if it has caught nothing?
⁵ Does a bird fall into a snare on the earth,
   when there is no trap for it?
Does a snare spring up from the ground,
   when it has taken nothing?
⁶ Is a trumpet blown in a city,
   and the people are not afraid?
Does disaster befall a city,
   unless the Lord has done it?
⁷ Surely the Lord God does nothing,
   without revealing his secret
   to his servants the prophets.
⁸ The lion has roared;
   who will not fear?
The Lord God has spoken;
   who can but prophesy?

⁹ Proclaim to the strongholds in Ashdod,
   and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt,
and say, ‘Assemble yourselves on Mount^* Samaria,
   and see what great tumults are within it,
   and what oppressions are in its midst.’
¹⁰ They do not know how to do right, says the Lord,
   those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.
¹¹ Therefore, thus says the Lord God:
An adversary shall surround the land,
   and strip you of your defence;
   and your strongholds shall be plundered.

12 Thus says the Lord: As the shepherd rescues from the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear, so shall the people of Israel who live in Samaria be rescued, with the corner of a couch and part^* of a bed.

¹³ Hear, and testify against the house of Jacob,
   says the Lord God, the God of hosts:
¹⁴ On the day I punish Israel for its transgressions,
   I will punish the altars of Bethel,
and the horns of the altar shall be cut off
   and fall to the ground.
¹⁵ I will tear down the winter house as well as the summer house;
   and the houses of ivory shall perish,
and the great houses^* shall come to an end,

says the Lord.

4Hear this word, you cows of Bashan
   who are on Mount Samaria,
who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,
   who say to their husbands, ‘Bring something to drink!’
² The Lord God has sworn by his holiness:
   The time is surely coming upon you,
when they shall take you away with hooks,
   even the last of you with fish-hooks.
³ Through breaches in the wall you shall leave,
   each one straight ahead;
   and you shall be flung out into Harmon,^*

says the Lord.
⁴ Come to Bethel—and transgress;
   to Gilgal—and multiply transgression;
bring your sacrifices every morning,
   your tithes every three days;
⁵ bring a thank-offering of leavened bread,
   and proclaim freewill-offerings, publish them;
   for so you love to do, O people of Israel!

says the Lord God.

Israel Rejects Correction

⁶ I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
   and lack of bread in all your places,
yet you did not return to me,

says the Lord.

⁷ And I also withheld the rain from you
   when there were still three months to the harvest;
I would send rain on one city,
   and send no rain on another city;
one field would be rained upon,
   and the field on which it did not rain withered;
⁸ so two or three towns wandered to one town
   to drink water, and were not satisfied;
yet you did not return to me,

says the Lord.

⁹ I struck you with blight and mildew;
   I laid waste^* your gardens and your vineyards;
   the locust devoured your fig trees and your olive trees;
yet you did not return to me,

says the Lord.

¹⁰ I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt;
   I killed your young men with the sword;
I carried away your horses;^*
   and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;
yet you did not return to me,

says the Lord.

¹¹ I overthrew some of you,
   as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
   and you were like a brand snatched from the fire;
yet you did not return to me,

says the Lord.

¹² Therefore, thus I will do to you, O Israel;
   because I will do this to you,
   prepare to meet your God, O Israel!