³ For behold, the Lord is coming out of His place;
He will come down
And tread on the high places of the earth.
^4 (D)The mountains will melt under Him,
And the valleys will split
Like wax before the fire,
Like waters poured down a steep place.
⁵ All this is for the transgression of Jacob
And for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the transgression of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
And what are the ^(E)high places of Judah?
Are they not Jerusalem?

⁶ “Therefore I will make Samaria ^(F)a heap of ruins in the field,
Places for planting a vineyard;
I will pour down her stones into the valley,
And I will ^(G)uncover her foundations.
⁷ All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,
And all her ^(H)pay as a harlot shall be burned with the fire;
All her idols I will lay desolate,
For she gathered it from the pay of a harlot,
And they shall return to the ^(I)pay of a harlot.”

^10 (L)Tell it not in Gath,
Weep not at all;
In ^[a]Beth Aphrah
Roll yourself in the dust.
¹¹ Pass by in naked shame, you inhabitant of ^[b]Shaphir;
The inhabitant of ^[c]Zaanan does not go out.
Beth Ezel mourns;
Its place to stand is taken away from you.

¹² For the inhabitant of ^[d]Maroth ^[e]pined for good,
But ^(M)disaster came down from the Lord
To the gate of Jerusalem.
¹³ O inhabitant of ^(N)Lachish,
Harness the chariot to the swift steeds
(She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion),
For the transgressions of Israel were ^(O)found in you.

¹⁴ Therefore you shall ^(P)give presents to ^[f]Moresheth Gath;
The houses of ^(Q)Achzib^[g] shall be a lie to the kings of Israel.
¹⁵ I will yet bring an heir to you, O inhabitant of ^(R)Mareshah;^[h]
The glory of Israel shall come to ^(S)Adullam.^[i]
16 Make yourself ^(T)bald and cut off your hair,
Because of your ^(U)precious children;
Enlarge your baldness like an eagle,
For they shall go from you into ^(V)captivity.

“Behold, against this ^(Y)family I am devising ^(Z)disaster,
From which you cannot remove your necks;
Nor shall you walk haughtily,
For this is an evil time.
⁴ In that day one shall take up a proverb against you,
And ^(AA)lament with a bitter lamentation, saying:
‘We are utterly destroyed!
He has changed the ^[k]heritage of my people;
How He has removed it from me!
To ^[l]a turncoat He has divided our fields.’ ”

⁵ Therefore you will have no ^[m]one to determine boundaries by lot
In the assembly of the Lord.

⁸ “Lately My people have risen up as an enemy—
You pull off the robe with the garment
From those who trust you, as they pass by,
Like men returned from war.
⁹ The women of My people you cast out
From their pleasant houses;
From their children
You have taken away My glory forever.

¹⁰ “Arise and depart,
For this is not your ^(AB)rest;
Because it is ^(AC)defiled, it shall destroy,
Yes, with utter destruction.
¹¹ If a man should walk in a false spirit
And speak a lie, saying,
‘I will ^[q]prophesy to you ^[r]of wine and drink,’
Even he would be the ^(AD)prattler of this people.

“Hear now, O heads of Jacob,
And you ^(AJ)rulers of the house of Israel:
^(AK)Is it not for you to know justice?
² You who hate good and love evil;
Who strip the skin from ^[t]My people,
And the flesh from their bones;
³ Who also ^(AL)eat the flesh of My people,
Flay their skin from them,
Break their bones,
And chop them in pieces
Like meat for the pot,
^(AM)Like flesh in the caldron.”

⁴ Then ^(AN)they will cry to the Lord,
But He will not hear them;
He will even hide His face from them at that time,
Because they have been evil in their deeds.

⁵ Thus says the Lord ^(AO)concerning the prophets
Who make my people stray;
Who chant ^[u]“Peace”
^[v]While they ^(AP)chew with their teeth,
But who prepare war against him
^(AQ)Who puts nothing into their mouths:
⁶ “Therefore^(AR) you shall have night without ^[w]vision,
And you shall have darkness without divination;
The sun shall go down on the prophets,
And the day shall be dark for ^(AS)them.
⁷ So the seers shall be ashamed,
And the diviners abashed;
Indeed they shall all cover their lips;
^(AT)For there is no answer from God.”

⁸ But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord,
And of justice and might,
^(AU)To declare to Jacob his transgression
And to Israel his sin.
⁹ Now hear this,
You heads of the house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who abhor justice
And ^[x]pervert all equity,
^10 (AV)Who build up Zion with ^(AW)bloodshed
And Jerusalem with iniquity:
^11 (AX)Her heads judge for a bribe,
^(AY)Her priests teach for pay,
And her prophets divine for ^[y]money.
^(AZ)Yet they lean on the Lord, and say,
“Is not the Lord among us?
No harm can come upon us.”
¹² Therefore because of you
Zion shall be ^(BA)plowed like a field,
^(BB)Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins,
And ^(BC)the mountain of the ^[z]temple
Like the bare hills of the forest.

^4 (BH)But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree,
And no one shall make them afraid;
For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
⁵ For all people walk each in the name of his god,
But ^(BI)we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
Forever and ever.

⁹ Now why do you cry aloud?
^(BN)Is there no king in your midst?
Has your counselor perished?
For ^(BO)pangs have seized you like a woman in ^[ab]labor.
¹⁰ Be in pain, and labor to bring forth,
O daughter of Zion,
Like a woman in birth pangs.
For now you shall go forth from the city,
You shall dwell in the field,
And to ^(BP)Babylon you shall go.
There you shall be delivered;
There the ^(BQ)Lord will ^(BR)redeem you
From the hand of your enemies.

^11 (BS)Now also many nations have gathered against you,
Who say, “Let her be defiled,
And let our eye ^(BT)look upon Zion.”
¹² But they do not know ^(BU)the thoughts of the Lord,
Nor do they understand His counsel;
For He will gather them ^(BV)like sheaves to the threshing floor.

¹³ “Arise^(BW) and ^(BX)thresh, O daughter of Zion;
For I will make your horn iron,
And I will make your hooves bronze;
You shall ^(BY)beat in pieces many peoples;
^(BZ)I will consecrate their gain to the Lord,
And their substance to ^(CA)the Lord of the whole earth.”

³ For the wicked ^(B)boasts of his heart’s desire;
^[b]He ^(C)blesses the greedy and renounces the Lord.
⁴ The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God;
^[c]God is in none of his ^(D)thoughts.

⁵ His ways ^[d]are always prospering;
Your judgments are far above, out of his sight;
As for all his enemies, he sneers at them.
^6 (E)He has said in his heart, “I shall not be moved;
^(F)I shall never be in adversity.”
^7 (G)His mouth is full of cursing and ^(H)deceit and oppression;
Under his tongue is trouble and iniquity.

⁸ He sits in the lurking places of the villages;
In the secret places he murders the innocent;
His eyes are secretly fixed on the helpless.
⁹ He lies in wait secretly, as a lion in his den;
He lies in wait to catch the poor;
He catches the poor when he draws him into his net.
¹⁰ So ^[e]he crouches, he lies low,
That the helpless may fall by his ^[f]strength.
¹¹ He has said in his heart,
“God has forgotten;
He hides His face;
He will never see.”

¹² Arise, O Lord!
O God, ^(I)lift up Your hand!
Do not forget the ^(J)humble.
¹³ Why do the wicked renounce God?
He has said in his heart,
“You will not require an account.”

¹⁴ But You have ^(K)seen, for You observe trouble and grief,
To repay it by Your hand.
The helpless ^(L)commits^[g] himself to You;
^(M)You are the helper of the fatherless.
¹⁵ Break the arm of the wicked and the evil man;
Seek out his wickedness until You find none.

^16 (N)The Lord is King forever and ever;
The nations have perished out of His land.
¹⁷ Lord, You have heard the desire of the humble;
You will prepare their heart;
You will cause Your ear to hear,
¹⁸ To ^[h]do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
That the man of the earth may ^[i]oppress no more.