1   Listen, Israelites, to these words that the Lord addresses to you, to the whole nation which he brought up from Egypt:

   2   For you alone have I cared
  among all the nations of the world;
  therefore will I punish you
    for all your iniquities.
   3   Do two men travel together
    unless they have agreed?
   4   Does a lion roar in the forest
    if he has no prey?
Does a young lion growl in his den
    if he has caught nothing?
   5   Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground
    if the striker is not set for it?
  Does a trap spring from the ground
    and take nothing?
   6   If a trumpet sounds the alarm,
    are not the people scared?
  If disaster falls on a city,
    has not the Lord been at work? ^note
7   For the Lord God does nothing
without giving to his servants the prophets knowledge of his plans.
   8   The lion has roared; who is not terrified?
The Lord God has spoken; who will not prophesy?

Israel's sins and threatened punishment
   9   Stand upon the palaces in Ashdod
    and upon the palaces of Egypt,
    and proclaim aloud:
  ‘Assemble on the hills of Samaria,
look at the tumult seething among her people
    and at the oppression in her midst;
     10   what do they care for honesty
who hoard in their palaces the gains of crime and violence?’
    This is the very word of the Lord.

11   Therefore these are the words of the Lord God:

  An enemy shall surround ^note the land;
  your stronghold shall be thrown down
    and your palaces sacked.

12   These are the words of the Lord:

As a shepherd rescues out of the jaws of a lion
  two shin bones or the tip of an ear,
so shall the Israelites who live in Samaria be rescued
like a corner of a couch or a chip from the leg of a bed. ^note
13   Listen and testify against the family of Jacob.
This is the very word of the Lord God, the God of Hosts.


14   On the day when I deal with Israel
    for all their crimes,
  I will most surely deal with the altars of Bethel:
  the horns of the altar shall be hacked off
    and shall fall to the ground.
15   I will break down both winter-house and summer-house;
    houses of ivory shall perish,
  and great houses be demolished.
    This is the very word of the Lord.

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