2:11 And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.
2:12 But ye gave the Nazarites wine to drink; and commanded the prophets, saying, Prophesy not.
2:13 Behold, I am pressed under you, as a cart is pressed that is full of sheaves.
2:14 Therefore the flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not strengthen his force, neither shall the mighty deliver himself: 2:15 Neither shall he stand that handleth the bow; and he that is swift of foot shall not deliver himself: neither shall he that rideth the horse deliver himself.
2:16 And he that is courageous among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, saith the LORD.
3:1 Hear this word that the LORD hath spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying, 3:2 You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.
3:3 Can two walk together, except they be agreed? 3:4 Will a lion roar in the forest, when he hath no prey? will a young lion cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing? 3:5 Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all? 3:6 Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people not be afraid? shall there be evil in a city, and the LORD hath not done it? 3:7 Surely the Lord G.o.d will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.
3:8 The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord G.o.d hath spoken, who can but prophesy? 3:9 Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, a.s.semble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof.
3:10 For they know not to do right, saith the LORD, who store up violence and robbery in their palaces.
3:11 Therefore thus saith the Lord G.o.d; An adversary there shall be even round about the land; and he shall bring down thy strength from thee, and thy palaces shall be spoiled.
3:12 Thus saith the LORD; As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch.
3:13 Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord G.o.d, the G.o.d of hosts, 3:14 That in the day that I shall visit the transgressions of Israel upon him I will also visit the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altar shall be cut off, and fall to the ground.
3:15 And I will smite the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and the great houses shall have an end, saith the LORD.
4:1 Hear this word, ye kine of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.
4:2 The Lord G.o.d hath sworn by his holiness, that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.
4:3 And ye shall go out at the breaches, every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the LORD.
4:4 Come to Bethel, and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your t.i.thes after three years: 4:5 And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings: for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord G.o.d.
4:6 And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
4:7 And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered.
4:8 So two or three cities wandered unto one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
4:9 I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
4:10 I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
4:11 I have overthrown some of you, as G.o.d overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD.
4:12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy G.o.d, O Israel.
4:13 For, lo, he that formeth the mountains, and createth the wind, and declareth unto man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth, The LORD, The G.o.d of hosts, is his name.
5:1 Hear ye this word which I take up against you, even a lamentation, O house of Israel.
5:2 The virgin of Israel is fallen; she shall no more rise: she is forsaken upon her land; there is none to raise her up.
5:3 For thus saith the Lord G.o.d; The city that went out by a thousand shall leave an hundred, and that which went forth by an hundred shall leave ten, to the house of Israel.
5:4 For thus saith the LORD unto the house of Israel, Seek ye me, and ye shall live: 5:5 But seek not Bethel, nor enter into Gilgal, and pa.s.s not to Beersheba: for Gilgal shall surely go into captivity, and Bethel shall come to nought.
5:6 Seek the LORD, and ye shall live; lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and devour it, and there be none to quench it in Bethel.
5:7 Ye who turn judgment to wormwood, and leave off righteousness in the earth, 5:8 Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the earth: The LORD is his name: 5:9 That strengtheneth the spoiled against the strong, so that the spoiled shall come against the fortress.
5:10 They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
5:11 Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.
5:12 For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.
5:13 Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in that time; for it is an evil time.
5:14 Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live: and so the LORD, the G.o.d of hosts, shall be with you, as ye have spoken.
5:15 Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD G.o.d of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.
5:16 Therefore the LORD, the G.o.d of hosts, the LORD, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skilful of lamentation to wailing.
5:17 And in all vineyards shall be wailing: for I will pa.s.s through thee, saith the LORD.
5:18 Woe unto you that desire the day of the LORD! to what end is it for you? the day of the LORD is darkness, and not light.
5:19 As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.
5:20 Shall not the day of the LORD be darkness, and not light? even very dark, and no brightness in it? 5:21 I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn a.s.semblies.
5:22 Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts.
5:23 Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols.
5:24 But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
5:25 Have ye offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel? 5:26 But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your G.o.d, which ye made to yourselves.
5:27 Therefore will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the LORD, whose name is The G.o.d of hosts.
6:1 Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, which are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came! 6:2 Pa.s.s ye unto Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: be they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border? 6:3 Ye that put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near; 6:4 That lie upon beds of ivory, and stretch themselves upon their couches, and eat the lambs out of the flock, and the calves out of the midst of the stall; 6:5 That chant to the sound of the viol, and invent to themselves instruments of musick, like David; 6:6 That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.
6:7 Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed.
6:8 The Lord G.o.d hath sworn by himself, saith the LORD the G.o.d of hosts, I abhor the excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein.