“The people of Judah have sinned again and again,
    and I will not let them go unpunished!
They have rejected the instruction of the Lord,
    refusing to obey his decrees.
They have been led astray by the same lies
    that deceived their ancestors.
⁵ So I will send down fire on Judah,
    and all the fortresses of Jerusalem will be destroyed.”

“The people of Israel have sinned again and again,
    and I will not let them go unpunished!
They sell honorable people for silver
    and poor people for a pair of sandals.
⁷ They trample helpless people in the dust
    and shove the oppressed out of the way.
Both father and son sleep with the same woman,
    corrupting my holy name.
⁸ At their religious festivals,
    they lounge in clothing their debtors put up as security.
In the house of their gods,^[a]
    they drink wine bought with unjust fines.

⁹ “But as my people watched,
    I destroyed the Amorites,
though they were as tall as cedars
    and as strong as oaks.
I destroyed the fruit on their branches
    and dug out their roots.
¹⁰ It was I who rescued you from Egypt
    and led you through the desert for forty years,
    so you could possess the land of the Amorites.
¹¹ I chose some of your sons to be prophets
    and others to be Nazirites.
Can you deny this, my people of Israel?”
    asks the Lord.
¹² “But you caused the Nazirites to sin by making them drink wine,
    and you commanded the prophets, ‘Shut up!’

¹³ “So I will make you groan
    like a wagon loaded down with sheaves of grain.
¹⁴ Your fastest runners will not get away.
    The strongest among you will become weak.
Even mighty warriors will be unable to save themselves.
¹⁵     The archers will not stand their ground.
The swiftest runners won’t be fast enough to escape.
    Even those riding horses won’t be able to save themselves.
¹⁶ On that day the most courageous of your fighting men
    will drop their weapons and run for their lives,”
    says the Lord.

² “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.”

⁷ Indeed, the Sovereign Lord never does anything
    until he reveals his plans to his servants the prophets.

⁸ The lion has roared—
    so who isn’t frightened?
The Sovereign Lord has spoken—
    so who can refuse to proclaim his message?
⁹ Announce this to the leaders of Philistia^[a]
    and to the great ones of Egypt:
“Take your seats now on the hills around Samaria,
    and witness the chaos and oppression in Israel.”

¹⁰ “My people have forgotten how to do right,”
    says the Lord.
“Their fortresses are filled with wealth
    taken by theft and violence.
¹¹ Therefore,” says the Sovereign Lord,
    “an enemy is coming!
He will surround them and shatter their defenses.
    Then he will plunder all their fortresses.”

“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.^[b]

¹⁴ “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.
¹⁵ 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.