“For three transgressions of ^(A)Damascus, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because they have ^(B)threshed Gilead with implements of iron.
^4 (C)But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael,
Which shall devour the palaces of ^(D)Ben-Hadad.
⁵ I will also break the gate ^(E)bar of Damascus,
And cut off the inhabitant from the Valley of Aven,
And the one who ^[a]holds the scepter from ^[b]Beth Eden.
The people of Syria shall go captive to Kir,”
Says the Lord.

^(B)“Hamath and Arpad are shamed,
For they have heard bad news.
They are fainthearted;
^(C)There is ^[a]trouble on the sea;
It cannot be quiet.
²⁴ Damascus has grown feeble;
She turns to flee,
And fear has seized her.
^(D)Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in ^[b]labor.
²⁵ Why is ^(E)the city of praise not deserted, the city of My joy?
^26 (F)Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets,
And all the men of war shall be cut off in that day,” says the Lord of hosts.
²⁷ “I^(G) will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus,
And it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.”

⁴ “I will send out the curse,” says the Lord of hosts;
“It shall enter the house of the ^(A)thief
And the house of ^(B)the one who swears falsely by My name.
It shall remain in the midst of his house
And consume ^(C)it, with its timber and stones.”

“As a shepherd ^[a]takes from the mouth of a lion
Two legs or a piece of an ear,
So shall the children of Israel be taken out
Who dwell in Samaria—
In the corner of a bed and ^[b]on the edge of a couch!

¹⁹ O Lord, ^(A)my strength and my fortress,
^(B)My refuge in the day of affliction,
The Gentiles shall come to You
From the ends of the earth and say,
“Surely our fathers have inherited lies,
Worthlessness and ^(C)unprofitable things.”