The Lord has sworn by (A)the pride of Jacob:
“Surely (B)I will never forget any of their deeds.
(C)Shall not the land tremble on this account,
    and everyone mourn who dwells in it,
(D)and all of it rise like the Nile,
    and be tossed about (E)and sink again, like the Nile of Egypt?”

“And on that day,” declares the Lord God,
    (F)“I will make the sun go down at noon
    and darken the earth in broad daylight.
10 (G)I will turn your feasts into mourning
    and all your songs into lamentation;
(H)I will bring sackcloth on every waist
    (I)and baldness on every head;
(J)I will make it like the mourning for an only son
    and the end of it like a bitter day.

11 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God,
    “when (K)I will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
    (L)but of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 (M)They shall wander from sea to sea,
    and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord,
    (N)but they shall not find it.

13 (O)“In that day the lovely virgins and the young men
    shall (P)faint for thirst.
14 Those who swear by (Q)the Guilt of Samaria,
    and say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan,’
and, ‘As (R)the Way of (S)Beersheba lives,’
    they shall fall, and never rise again.”

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Now the Lord has sworn this oath
    by his own name, the Pride of Israel[a]:
“I will never forget
    the wicked things you have done!
The earth will tremble for your deeds,
    and everyone will mourn.
The ground will rise like the Nile River at floodtime;
    it will heave up, then sink again.

“In that day,” says the Sovereign Lord,
“I will make the sun go down at noon
    and darken the earth while it is still day.
10 I will turn your celebrations into times of mourning
    and your singing into weeping.
You will wear funeral clothes
    and shave your heads to show your sorrow—
as if your only son had died.
    How very bitter that day will be!

11 “The time is surely coming,” says the Sovereign Lord,
    “when I will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread or water
    but of hearing the words of the Lord.
12 People will stagger from sea to sea
    and wander from border to border[b]
searching for the word of the Lord,
    but they will not find it.
13 Beautiful girls and strong young men
    will grow faint in that day,
    thirsting for the Lord’s word.
14 And those who swear by the shameful idols of Samaria—
    who take oaths in the name of the god of Dan
    and make vows in the name of the god of Beersheba[c]
they will all fall down,
    never to rise again.”

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Footnotes

  1. 8:7 Hebrew the pride of Jacob. See note on 3:13.
  2. 8:12 Hebrew from north to east.
  3. 8:14 Hebrew the way of Beersheba.