Beginning

“The Lord roars from Zion,
    and his name thunders forth from Jerusalem.
The pastures of the shepherds will wither
    and the summit of Carmel will be arid.”

For three crimes of Damascus, and for four,
    I will not revoke my decree.
Because they threshed Gilead
    with threshing-sledges of iron,
⁴ I will send fire on the house of Hazael,
    and it will devour the palaces of Ben-hadad.^[c]
5 I will demolish the gate bars of Damascus
    and destroy the inhabitants in the Valley of Aven,
as well as the sceptered ruler of Beth-eden;^[d]
    the people of Aram will be exiled to Kir,
    says the Lord.

For three crimes of Gaza, and for four,
    I will not revoke my decree.
Because they deported entire communities
    and sent them in exile to Edom,
⁷ I will send fire down on the walls of Gaza
    to devour its palaces.
⁸ I will destroy the inhabitants of Ashdod
    and the sceptered ruler at Ashkelon.
I will turn my hand against Ekron,
    and the remnant of the Philistines will perish,
    says the Lord God.

For three crimes of Tyre, and for four,
    I will not revoke my decree.
Because they delivered entire communities to slavery in Edom
    and ignored the covenant of brotherhood,
¹⁰ I will send fire down on the walls of Tyre
    to devour its palaces.

For three crimes of Edom, and for four,
    I will not revoke my decree.
Because he pursued his brother with the sword
    and stifled any semblance of pity,
because he was unceasing in his anger
    and constantly nurtured his wrath,
¹² I will send down fire on Teman
    to devour the palaces of Bozrah.

For three crimes of the Ammonites, and for four,
    I will not revoke my decree.
Because they ripped open the pregnant women in Gilead
    in their determination to enlarge their territory,
¹⁴ I will send down fire upon the walls of Rabbah^[e]
    to devour its palaces
amid war cries on the day of battle
    and violent storms on the day of the whirlwind.
¹⁵ Then their king will go into exile,
    accompanied by his chief advisors,
    says the Lord.

For three crimes of Moab, and for four,
    I will not revoke my decree.
Because they incinerated to ashes
    the bones of the king of Edom,^[f]
2 I will send down fire on Moab
    to devour the palaces of Kerioth.
Moab will perish amid the uproar,
    amid war cries and the sound of trumpets.
³ I will destroy its rulers
    and slaughter all of his officials with him.

For three crimes of Judah, and for four,
    I will not revoke my decree.
Because they have spurned the law of the Lord
    and have not observed his statutes,
having been led astray
    by the lies which their fathers followed,
⁵ I will send fire down on Judah
    to devour the palaces of Jerusalem.

For three crimes of Israel, and for four,
    I will not revoke my decree.
They sell righteous people for silver
    and the poor for a pair of sandals.
⁷ They have trampled the heads of the poor
    into the dust of the earth
    and thrust the lowly out of their way.
Father and son lie with the same prostitute,
    profaning my holy name.
⁸ They lie down beside every altar
    upon garments acquired as surety,^[g]
while drinking in the house of their God
    the wine purchased with the fines they impose.
⁹ Yet I was the one
    who destroyed the Amorites^[h] before them;
they were as tall as the cedars
    and as strong as the oaks.
I was the one
    who destroyed their fruit above
    and their roots below.
¹⁰ I was the one
    who brought you up from the land of Egypt
and for forty years led you through the desert
    to take possession of the land of the Amorites.
¹¹ I was the one
    who raised up some of your sons to be prophets
    and some of your young men to be Nazirites.
Is this not indeed true, O Israelites?
    says the Lord.
¹² But you forced the Nazirites to drink wine
    and commanded the prophets, “Do not prophesy!”
¹³ Therefore, I will crush you
    just as a cart crushes when it is fully laden.
¹⁴ The swift will be unable to take flight;
    the strong man will not retain his strength,
    and the warrior will be unable to save his life.
¹⁵ The archer will not stand his ground;
    the swift of foot will not escape,
    nor will the horseman save his life.
¹⁶ Even the bravest of warriors
    will flee away naked on that day,
    says the Lord.

² Of all the families of the earth,
    you alone have I favored.
That is why I will punish you
    for all your iniquities.

³ Do two people travel together
    unless they have first agreed to do so?
⁴ Does a lion roar in the forest
    when it has no prey?
Does a young lion cry out from its den
    unless it has caught something?
⁵ Does a bird fall into a snare on the earth
    unless a trap has been set for it?
Does a snare spring up from the ground
    unless something has been caught in it?
⁶ Are people not alarmed
    if a trumpet sounds in the city?
If disaster strikes a city,
    can that occur without the approval of the Lord?^[i]
7 Indeed, the Lord God does nothing
    without revealing his plan
    to his servants, the prophets.
⁸ The lion roars;
    who will not be frightened?
The Lord God has spoken;
    who will not prophesy?

⁹ Proclaim this from the
    palaces of Ashdod
    and from the palaces of the land of Egypt:
“Assemble on the hills of Samaria
    and observe the great disorders there,
    as well as the oppression in her midst.”
¹⁰ For they do not know how to do what is right,
    says the Lord,
as they store up in their palaces
    their ill-gotten gains from violence and robbery.

An enemy shall surround your land;
    he will tear down your strongholds
    and pillage your palaces.

As the shepherd rescues from the jaws of a lion
    two legs or the tip of an ear,
so will the Israelites who live in Samaria be rescued
    with the corner of a couch or the edge of a cot.

¹⁴ On the day when I punish Israel for its crimes,
    I will also deal with the altars of Bethel:
the horns of the altar shall be hacked off
    and fall to the ground.
¹⁵ I shall destroy the winter house
    as well as the summer house.
The houses of ivory will perish,
    and many mansions will be no more,
    says the Lord.

¹ Listen to this warning, you cows of Bashan,
    you women who dwell on the mount of Samaria,
you who oppress the weak and crush the needy,
    who command your husbands, “Bring us something to drink!”
² The Lord God has sworn by his holiness:
    The time is surely coming upon you
when you will be dragged away with hooks,
    and the last of you with fishhooks.
³ Through breaches in the wall you will leave
    each one straight ahead,
and you shall be flung out atop a dungheap,
    says the Lord.

⁴ Come to Bethel and sin!
    Come to Gilgal and sin even more!
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
    your tithes every third day.
⁵ Burn your thank offering of leavened bread,
    and brag publicly about your free-will offerings.
For this is what you love to do,
    O children of Israel, says the Lord God.

⁶ Although I made your teeth
    clean of food in all your cities
and spread famine in all your villages,
    you still would not return to me, says the Lord.
⁷ I even withheld the rain from you
    when there were still three months before the harvest.
I would allow rain to fall upon one town
    but not upon another.
One field would be watered by rain,
    while another would receive none and dry up.
⁸ People from two or three towns
    would stagger to a neighboring town to drink water,
    yet their thirst remained unquenched.
Yet even then you would not return to me,
    says the Lord.
⁹ I struck you with mildew and blight,
    I laid waste your gardens and vineyards;
the locust devoured your fig trees and your olive trees,
    but still you would not return to me,
    says the Lord.
¹⁰ I sent among you a plague like that of Egypt,
    and I slaughtered your young men with the sword.
I allowed your horses to be captured;
    I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps.
And still you would not return to me,
    says the Lord.
¹¹ I brought destruction among you
    like that which devastated Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were like a brand snatched from the fire,
    and still you would not come back to me,
    says the Lord.
¹² Therefore, O Israel,
    this is what I plan to do with you.
And because I intend to do this,
    prepare to meet your God, O Israel.

¹³ He is the one who formed the mountains
    and created the wind,
    and who reveals to men his thoughts,
who changes the dawn into darkness
    and strides upon the heights of the earth:
    the Lord, the God of hosts, is his name.

² She has fallen, to rise no more,
    the virgin Israel.
She lies forsaken on her own soil,
    with no one to raise her up.

The city that marched out to war with a thousand
    will be left with a hundred;
and the one that marched out with a hundred
    will have only ten left.

If you seek me, you will survive,
⁵     but do not go to Bethel.
Do not journey to Gilgal,
    and do not cross over to Beer-sheba.
For Gilgal will surely be led into exile,
    and Bethel shall come to nothing.
⁶ Seek the Lord and you will live,
    or else, like a fire,
he will sweep through the house of Joseph,
    with no one able to quench the flames.

⁸ He who made the Pleiades and Orion,
    who turns heavy darkness into dawn
    and darkens day into night,
who summons the waters of the sea
    and pours them out over the surface of the earth,
⁹ who brings destruction on the strong
    and ruin upon the fortress:
    the Lord is his name.
⁷ Woe to those who turn justice to wormwood
    and thrust righteousness to the ground.

¹⁰ They hate the one who preaches justice at the city gate
    and abhor the one who speaks the truth.
¹¹ Therefore, because you have trampled upon the poor
    and extorted levies on their wheat,
even though you have built houses of hewn stone,
    you will never live in them;
although you have planted pleasant vineyards,
    you will never drink their wine.
¹² For I know how many are your crimes
    and how monstrous are your sins.
You oppress the innocent, accept bribes,
    and push aside the destitute at the gates.
¹³ Therefore, the prudent man keeps silent in such a situation,
    for it is an evil period.

¹⁴ Seek good and not evil,
    so that you may live.
Then the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you
    as you claim he is.
¹⁵ Hate evil and love good,
    and let justice prevail at the city gate.
Then it is possible that the Lord, the God of hosts,
    will show mercy to the remnant of Joseph.^[j]

In every public square there will be lamentation;
    in every street they will cry out, “Alas! Alas!”
They will summon the farmers to wail,
    and the professional mourners to lament.
¹⁷ There will be wailing in every vineyard,
    for I will pass through your midst,
    says the Lord.
¹⁸ Woe to those who long for the day of the Lord.
    What will this day of the Lord mean to you?
It will mean darkness, not light,
¹⁹     as if someone fled from a lion
    and was met by a bear,
or entered his house
    and rested his hand against the wall
    and was bitten by a snake.
²⁰ Will not the day of the Lord
    be darkness, not light,
    day of gloom without any brightness?

²¹ I loathe, I despise your festivals,
    and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.
²² Even though you bring me
    your burnt offerings and your grain offerings,
    I will not accept them.
Nor will I look favorably
    upon your stall-fed peace offerings.
²³ Spare me the noise of your chanting;
    I will not listen to the melodies of your harps.
²⁴ Rather, let justice flow like a river,
    and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.
²⁵ Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
    during those forty years in the desert,
    O house of Israel?
²⁶ You have lifted up Sakuth, your king,
    and Kaiwan, your star god,
    the images that you have made for yourselves.
²⁷ Therefore, I will drive you into exile beyond Damascus,
    says the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts.