^g“The Lord roars from Zion

and utters his voice from Jerusalem;

^hthe pastures of the shepherds mourn,

and the ⁱtop of ^jCarmel withers.”

^k“For three transgressions of ^lDamascus,

and for four, ^lI will not revoke the punishment,³

because they have threshed ^mGilead

with threshing sledges of iron.

4  ⁿSo I will send a fire upon the house of ^oHazael,

and it shall devour the strongholds of ^oBen-hadad.

5  I will ^pbreak the gate-bar of ^lDamascus,

and cut off the inhabitants from the Valley of ^qAven,⁴

and him who holds the scepter from ^rBeth-eden;

and the people of ^sSyria shall go into exile to ^tKir,”

says the Lord.

^k“For three transgressions of ^uGaza,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

because ^vthey carried into exile a whole people

to deliver them up to Edom.

7  So I will send a fire upon the wall of ^uGaza,

and it shall devour her strongholds.

8  I will cut off the inhabitants from ^wAshdod,

and him who holds the scepter from Ashkelon;

I will turn my hand against Ekron,

and the remnant of the Philistines shall perish,”

says the Lord God.

^k“For three transgressions of ^xTyre,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

because they delivered up a whole people to Edom,

and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.

10  So I will send a fire upon the wall of ^xTyre,

and it shall devour her strongholds.”

^k“For three transgressions of ^yEdom,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

^ybecause he pursued his brother with the sword

^zand cast off all pity,

^aand his anger tore perpetually,

^aand he kept his wrath forever.

12  So I will send a fire upon ^bTeman,

and it shall devour the strongholds of ^cBozrah.”

^k“For three transgressions of the ^dAmmonites,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

because ^ethey have ripped open pregnant women in ^fGilead,

that they might enlarge their border.

14  So I will kindle a fire in the wall of ^gRabbah,

^hand it shall devour her strongholds,

with shouting on the day of battle,

^hwith a tempest in the day of the whirlwind;

15  and ⁱtheir king shall go into exile,

he and his princes⁵ together,”

says the Lord.

^k“For three transgressions of ^jMoab,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,⁶

because ^khe burned to lime

the bones of the king of Edom.

2  So I will send a fire upon Moab,

and it shall devour the strongholds of ^lKerioth,

and Moab shall die amid uproar,

amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;

3  ^mI will cut off the ruler from its midst,

and will kill ^mall its princes⁷ with him,”

says the Lord.

ⁿ“For three transgressions of Judah,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

because ^othey have rejected the law of the Lord,

and have not kept his statutes,

but ^ptheir lies have led them astray,

those after which their fathers walked.

5  So ^qI will send a fire upon Judah,

and it shall devour the strongholds of Jerusalem.”

ⁿ“For three transgressions of Israel,

and for four, I will not revoke the punishment,

because ^rthey sell the righteous for ^ssilver,

and the needy for a pair of sandals—

7  those who trample the head of the poor ^tinto the dust of the earth

and ^uturn aside the way of the afflicted;

^va man and his father go in to the same girl,

so that my holy name is profaned;

8  they lay themselves down beside every altar

on garments ^wtaken in pledge,

and in the house of their God they drink

the wine of those who have been fined.

9  “Yet ^xit was I who destroyed the Amorite before them,

^ywhose height was like the height of the cedars

and who was as strong as the oaks;

^zI destroyed his fruit above

and his roots beneath.

10  ^aAlso it was I who brought you up out of the land of Egypt

^band led you forty years in the wilderness,

^xto possess the land of the Amorite.

11  And I raised up some of your sons for prophets,

and some of your young men for ^cNazirites.

Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel?”

declares the Lord.

12  “But you made the Nazirites ^ddrink wine,

and commanded the prophets,

saying, ^e‘You shall not prophesy.’

13  “Behold, I will press you down in your place,

as a cart full of sheaves presses down.

14  ^fFlight shall perish from the swift,

^fand the strong shall not retain his strength,

^gnor shall the mighty save his life;

15  he who handles the bow shall not stand,

and he who is ^hswift of foot shall not save himself,

ⁱnor shall he who rides the horse save his life;

16  and he who is stout of heart among the mighty

shall flee away naked in that day,”

declares the Lord.

2  ^k“You only have I known

of all the families of the earth;

^ltherefore I will punish you

for all your iniquities.

3  “Do two walk together,

unless they have agreed to meet?

4  Does a lion roar in the forest,

when he has no prey?

Does a young lion cry out from his den,

if he has taken nothing?

5  Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth,

when there is no trap for it?

Does a snare spring up from the ground,

when it has taken nothing?

6  ^mIs a trumpet blown in a city,

and the people are not afraid?

ⁿDoes disaster come to a city,

unless the Lord has done it?

7  “For the Lord God does nothing

^owithout revealing his secret

to his servants the prophets.

8  The lion has roared;

who will not fear?

^pThe Lord God has spoken;

who can but prophesy?”

9  Proclaim to the strongholds in ^qAshdod

and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt,

and say, “Assemble yourselves on ^rthe mountains of Samaria,

and see the great tumults within her,

and ^sthe oppressed in her midst.”

10  “They do not know how to do right,” declares the Lord,

^t“those who store up violence and robbery in their strongholds.”

^u“An adversary shall surround the land

and bring down⁸ your defenses from you,

and ^vyour strongholds shall be plundered.”

13  “Hear, ^zand testify against the house of Jacob,”

declares the Lord God, ^athe God of hosts,

14  “that on the day I punish Israel for his transgressions,

^bI will punish the altars of Bethel,

and ^cthe horns of the altar shall be cut off

and fall to the ground.

15  ^dI will strike ^ethe winter house along with ^fthe summer house,

and ^gthe houses of ivory shall perish,

and the great houses¹⁰ shall come to an end,”

declares the Lord.

1  “Hear this word, ^hyou cows of Bashan,

who are ⁱon the mountain of Samaria,

^jwho oppress the poor, ^jwho crush the needy,

who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’

2  ^kThe Lord God has sworn by his holiness

that, behold, the days are coming upon you,

^lwhen they shall take you away with hooks,

^leven the last of you with fishhooks.

3  ^mAnd you shall go out through the breaches,

each one straight ahead;

and you shall be cast out into Harmon,”

declares the Lord.

4  ⁿ“Come to Bethel, and transgress;

to ^oGilgal, and multiply transgression;

ⁿbring your ^psacrifices every morning,

your tithes every three days;

5  offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of ^qthat which is leavened,

and proclaim ^rfreewill offerings, publish them;

^sfor so you love to do, O people of Israel!”

declares the Lord God.

6  “I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,

and ^tlack of bread in all your places,

^uyet you did not return to me,”

declares the Lord.

7  “I also ^vwithheld the rain from you

when there were yet three months to the harvest;

^wI would send rain on one city,

and send no rain on another city;

one field would have rain,

and the field on which it did not rain would wither;

8  so two or three cities ^xwould wander to another city

to drink water, and would not be satisfied;

^uyet you did not return to me,”

declares the Lord.

9  ^y“I struck you with blight and mildew;

your many gardens and your vineyards,

your fig trees and your olive trees ^zthe locust devoured;

^uyet you did not return to me,”

declares the Lord.

10  “I sent among you a pestilence ^aafter the manner of Egypt;

I killed your young men with the sword,

and ^bcarried away your horses,¹¹

and ^cI made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;

^uyet you did not return to me,”

declares the Lord.

11  “I overthrew some of you,

^das when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,

and you were ^eas a brand¹² plucked out of the burning;

^uyet you did not return to me,”

declares the Lord.

12  “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;

because I will do this to you,

prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”

13  For behold, ^fhe who forms the mountains and creates the wind,

and ^gdeclares to man what is his thought,

^hwho makes the morning darkness,

and ⁱtreads on the heights of the earth—

^jthe Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!

2  “Fallen, no more to rise,

is ^lthe virgin Israel;

forsaken on her land,

with none to raise her up.”

“The city that went out a thousand

shall have a hundred left,

and that which went out a hundred

shall have ten left

to the house of Israel.”

^m“Seek me and live;

5  but do not seek ⁿBethel,

and do not enter into ⁿGilgal

or cross over to ^oBeersheba;

for ⁿGilgal shall surely go into exile,

and ⁿBethel shall come to nothing.”

6  ^mSeek the Lord and live,

^plest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph,

and it devour, with none to quench it for ⁿBethel,

7  O ^qyou who turn justice to wormwood¹³

and cast down righteousness to the earth!

8  He who made the ^rPleiades and Orion,

and turns deep darkness into the morning

and ^sdarkens the day into night,

who ^tcalls for the waters of the sea

^tand pours them out on the surface of the earth,

^uthe Lord is his name;

9  ^vwho makes destruction flash forth against the strong,

so that destruction comes upon the fortress.

10  ^wThey hate him who reproves ^xin the gate,

and they ^yabhor him who speaks the truth.

11  Therefore because you ^ztrample on¹⁴ the poor

and you exact taxes of grain from him,

^ayou have built houses of hewn stone,

but you shall not dwell in them;

^ayou have planted pleasant vineyards,

but you shall not drink their wine.

12  For I know how many are your transgressions

and how great are your sins—

you who afflict the righteous, who ^btake a bribe,

and ^cturn aside the needy ^xin the gate.

13  Therefore he who is prudent will ^dkeep silent in such a time,

^efor it is an evil time.

14  ^fSeek good, and not evil,

that you may live;

and so the Lord, ^gthe God of hosts, will be with you,

as you have said.

15  ^hHate evil, and love good,

and establish justice ^xin the gate;

ⁱit may be that the Lord, the God of hosts,

will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph.

“In all the squares ^jthere shall be wailing,

and in all the streets they shall say, ‘Alas! Alas!’

They shall call the farmers to mourning

and ^jto wailing those who are skilled in lamentation,

17  and in all vineyards there shall be wailing,

for ^kI will pass through your midst,”

says the Lord.

18  Woe to you who desire ^lthe day of the Lord!

Why would you have the day of the Lord?

^mIt is darkness, and not light,

19  ⁿas if a man fled from a lion,

and a bear met him,

or went into the house and leaned his hand against the wall,

and a serpent bit him.

20  ^mIs not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light,

and gloom with no brightness in it?

21  ^o“I hate, I despise your feasts,

and I take no delight in your solemn assemblies.

22  ^pEven though you offer me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,

I will not accept them;

and the peace offerings of your fattened animals,

I will not look upon them.

23  Take away from me the noise of your songs;

to ^qthe melody of your harps I will not listen.

24  But let justice roll down like waters,

and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.

1  ^yDeliver me, O Lord, from evil men;

preserve me from ^zviolent men,

2  who plan evil things in their heart

and ^astir up wars continually.

3  They make ^btheir tongue sharp as ^ca serpent’s,

and ^dunder their lips is the ^evenom of asps. Selah

4  Guard me, O Lord, from the hands of the wicked;

preserve me from ^zviolent men,

who have planned to trip up my feet.

5  The arrogant have ^fhidden a trap for me,

and with cords they have spread ^ga net;¹

beside the way they have set ^hsnares for me. Selah

6  ⁱI say to the Lord, You are my God;

give ear to ^jthe voice of my pleas for mercy, O Lord!

7  O Lord, my Lord, ^kthe strength of my salvation,

you have covered my head in the day of battle.

8  ^lGrant not, O Lord, the desires of the wicked;

do not further their² evil plot, or ^mthey will be exalted! Selah

9  As for the head of those who surround me,

let ⁿthe mischief of their lips overwhelm them!

10  Let ^oburning coals fall upon them!

Let them be cast into fire,

into miry pits, no more to rise!

11  Let not the slanderer be established in the land;

let evil hunt down the violent man speedily!

12  I know that the Lord will ^pmaintain the cause of the afflicted,

and ^qwill execute justice for the needy.

13  Surely ^rthe righteous shall give thanks to your name;

^sthe upright shall dwell in your presence.