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Hear, you peoples, all of you, listen, earth and all who live in it, that the Sovereign Lord may bear witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
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All this is because of Jacob’s transgression, because of the sins of the people of Israel. What is Jacob’s transgression? Is it not Samaria? What is Judah’s high place? Is it not Jerusalem?
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“Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations.
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All her idols will be broken to pieces; all her temple gifts will be burned with fire; I will destroy all her images. Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes, as the wages of prostitutes they will again be used.”
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Weeping and Mourning
Because of this I will weep and wail; I will go about barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and moan like an owl.
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For Samaria’s plague is incurable; it has spread to Judah. It has reached the very gate of my people, even to Jerusalem itself.
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Pass by naked and in shame, you who live in Shaphir. Those who live in Zaanan will not come out. Beth Ezel is in mourning; it no longer protects you.
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Therefore you will give parting gifts to Moresheth Gath. The town of Akzib will prove deceptive to the kings of Israel.
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I will bring a conqueror against you who live in Mareshah. The nobles of Israel will flee to Adullam.
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Shave your head in mourning for the children in whom you delight; make yourself as bald as the vulture, for they will go from you into exile.
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They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them. They defraud people of their homes, they rob them of their inheritance.
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Therefore, the Lord says: “I am planning disaster against this people, from which you cannot save yourselves. You will no longer walk proudly, for it will be a time of calamity.
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In that day people will ridicule you; they will taunt you with this mournful song: ‘We are utterly ruined; my people’s possession is divided up. He takes it from me! He assigns our fields to traitors.’”
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Therefore you will have no one in the assembly of the Lord to divide the land by lot.
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False Prophets
“Do not prophesy,” their prophets say. “Do not prophesy about these things; disgrace will not overtake us.”
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Lately my people have risen up like an enemy. You strip off the rich robe from those who pass by without a care, like men returning from battle.
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You drive the women of my people from their pleasant homes. You take away my blessing from their children forever.
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If a liar and deceiver comes and says, ‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’ that would be just the prophet for this people!
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Deliverance Promised
“I will surely gather all of you, Jacob; I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel. I will bring them together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture; the place will throng with people.
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The One who breaks open the way will go up before them; they will break through the gate and go out. Their King will pass through before them, the Lord at their head.”
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you who hate good and love evil; who tear the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones;
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who eat my people’s flesh, strip off their skin and break their bones in pieces; who chop them up like meat for the pan, like flesh for the pot?”
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Then they will cry out to the Lord, but he will not answer them. At that time he will hide his face from them because of the evil they have done.
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This is what the Lord says: “As for the prophets who lead my people astray, they proclaim ‘peace’ if they have something to eat, but prepare to wage war against anyone who refuses to feed them.
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Therefore night will come over you, without visions, and darkness, without divination. The sun will set for the prophets, and the day will go dark for them.
