Punishment for Disobedience

¹⁴ “‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands,^{(A) 15} and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws^(B) and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant,^{(C) 16} then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever^(D) that will destroy your sight and sap your strength.^(E) You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.^{(F) 17} I will set my face^(G) against you so that you will be defeated^(H) by your enemies;^(I) those who hate you will rule over you,^(J) and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.^(K)

¹⁸ “‘If after all this you will not listen to me,^(L) I will punish^(M) you for your sins seven times over.^{(N) 19} I will break down your stubborn pride^(O) and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.^{(P) 20} Your strength will be spent in vain,^(Q) because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.^(R)

²¹ “‘If you remain hostile^(S) toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over,^(T) as your sins deserve. ²² I will send wild animals^(U) against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few^(V) in number that your roads will be deserted.^(W)

²³ “‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction^(X) but continue to be hostile toward me, ²⁴ I myself will be hostile^(Y) toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. ²⁵ And I will bring the sword^(Z) on you to avenge^(AA) the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague^(AB) among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. ²⁶ When I cut off your supply of bread,^(AC) ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.

²⁷ “‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me^(AD) but continue to be hostile toward me, ²⁸ then in my anger^(AE) I will be hostile^(AF) toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.^{(AG) 29} You will eat^(AH) the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.^{(AI) 30} I will destroy your high places,^(AJ) cut down your incense altars^(AK) and pile your dead bodies^[a] on the lifeless forms of your idols,^(AL) and I will abhor^(AM) you. ³¹ I will turn your cities into ruins^(AN) and lay waste^(AO) your sanctuaries,^(AP) and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings.^{(AQ) 32} I myself will lay waste the land,^(AR) so that your enemies who live there will be appalled.^{(AS) 33} I will scatter^(AT) you among the nations^(AU) and will draw out my sword^(AV) and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste,^(AW) and your cities will lie in ruins.^{(AX) 34} Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate^(AY) and you are in the country of your enemies;^(AZ) then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. ³⁵ All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest^(BA) it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.

³⁶ “‘As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf^(BB) will put them to flight.^(BC) They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them.^{(BD) 37} They will stumble over one another^(BE) as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies.^{(BF) 38} You will perish^(BG) among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you.^{(BH) 39} Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’^(BI) sins they will waste away.^(BJ)

¹⁵ And the Lord will strike Israel, so that it will be like a reed swaying in the water. He will uproot^(A) Israel from this good land that he gave to their ancestors and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they aroused^(B) the Lord’s anger by making Asherah^(C) poles.^[a]

Elijah Announces a Great Drought

17 Now Elijah^(A) the Tishbite, from Tishbe^[a] in Gilead,^(B) said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain^(C) in the next few years except at my word.”

¹⁷ Then Micaiah answered, “I saw all Israel scattered^(A) on the hills like sheep without a shepherd,^(B) and the Lord said, ‘These people have no master. Let each one go home in peace.’”

² He said:

The Lord’s Anger Against Nineveh