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Judgment Against Samaria and Jerusalem
Look! The Lord is coming from his dwelling place; he comes down and treads on the heights of the earth.
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The mountains melt beneath him and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope.
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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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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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You who live in Lachish, harness fast horses to the chariot. You are where the sin of Daughter Zion began, for the transgressions of Israel were found in 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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Human Plans and God’s Plans
Woe to those who plan iniquity, to those who plot evil on their beds! At morning’s light they carry it out because it is in their power to do it.
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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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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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Get up, go away! For this is not your resting place, because it is defiled, it is ruined, beyond all remedy.
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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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Leaders and Prophets Rebuked
Then I said, “Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of Israel. Should you not embrace justice,
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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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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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The seers will be ashamed and the diviners disgraced. They will all cover their faces because there is no answer from God.”
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But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression, to Israel his sin.
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Hear this, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of Israel, who despise justice and distort all that is right;
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Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they look for the Lord’s support and say, “Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us.”
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Therefore because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.
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Why do you now cry aloud— have you no king? Has your ruler perished, that pain seizes you like that of a woman in labor?
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Writhe in agony, Daughter Zion, like a woman in labor, for now you must leave the city to camp in the open field. You will go to Babylon; there you will be rescued. There the Lord will redeem you out of the hand of your enemies.
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But they do not know the thoughts of the Lord; they do not understand his plan, that he has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.
