Study Desk

Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan^(a) who are on the hill of Samaria, women who oppress the poor and crush the needy,^(b) who say to their husbands, "Bring us something to drink."^(c)

The Lord God has sworn^(d) by His holiness:^(e) Look, the days are coming^[a] when you will be taken away with hooks,^(f) every last one of you with fishhooks.^(g)

You will go through breaches in the wall,^(h) each woman straight ahead, and you will be driven along toward Harmon. This is the Lord 's declaration.

Come to Bethel and rebel; rebel even more at Gilgal!⁽ⁱ⁾ Bring your sacrifices every morning,^(j) your tenths every three days.

Offer leavened bread as a thank offering,^(k) and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings,^(l) for that is what you Israelites love to do!^(m) This is the Lord 's declaration.

I gave you absolutely nothing to eat^[b](n) in all your cities, a shortage of food in all your communities, yet you did not return to Me.^(o) This is the Lord 's declaration.

I also withheld the rain from you^(p) while there were still three months until harvest. I sent rain on one city but no rain on another.^(q) One field received rain while a field with no rain withered.^(r)

Two or three cities staggered to another city to drink water^(s) but were not satisfied,^(t) yet you did not return^(u) to Me. This is the Lord 's declaration.

I struck you with blight and mildew;^(v) the locust devoured^(w) your many gardens and vineyards, your fig trees and olive trees,^(x) yet you did not return to Me.^(y) This is the Lord 's declaration.

I sent plagues like those of Egypt;^(z) I killed your young men with the sword,^(aa) along with your captured horses.^(ab) I caused the stench of your camp to fill your nostrils,^(ac) yet you did not return to Me.^(ad) This is the Lord 's declaration.

I overthrew some of you as I^[c] overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,^(ae) and you were like a burning stick snatched from a fire,^(af) yet you did not return to Me^(ag)— this is the Lord 's declaration.

Therefore, Israel, that is what I will do to you, and since I will do that to you, Israel, prepare to meet your God!^(ah)

He is here: the One who forms the mountains,^(ai) creates the wind,^(aj) and reveals His^[d] thoughts to man,^(ak) the One who makes the dawn out of darkness and strides on the heights of the earth.^(al) Yahweh, the God of Hosts, is His name.^(am)

Listen to this message that I am singing for you, a lament,^(a) house of Israel:

She has fallen; Virgin Israel^(b) will never rise again.^(c) She lies abandoned on her land, with no one to raise her up.^(d)

For the Lord God says: The city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left,^(e) and the one that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left^(f) in the house of Israel.

For the Lord says to the house of Israel: Seek Me and live!^(g)

Do not seek Bethel^(h) or go to Gilgal⁽ⁱ⁾ or journey to Beer-sheba,^(j) for Gilgal will certainly go into exile, and Bethel will come to nothing.

Seek Yahweh^(k) and live, or He will spread like fire^(l) throughout the house of Joseph; it will consume everything, with no one at Bethel to extinguish it.^(m)

Those who turn justice into wormwood⁽ⁿ⁾ throw righteousness to the ground.

The One who made the Pleiades and Orion,^(o) who turns darkness^[a] into dawn^(p) and darkens day into night,^(q) who summons the waters of the sea^(r) and pours them out over the face of the earth^(s)— Yahweh is His name.^(t)

He brings destruction^[b] on the strong,^[c](u) and it falls on the stronghold.^(v)

They hate the one who convicts the guilty^(w) at the city gate and despise^(x) the one who speaks with integrity.

Therefore, because you trample on the poor^(y) and exact a grain tax from him, you will never live in the houses of cut stone^(z) you have built; you will never drink the wine from the lush vineyards you have planted.^(aa)

For I know your crimes are many and your sins innumerable. They oppress the righteous,^(ab) take a bribe, and deprive the poor of justice^(ac) at the gates.

Therefore, the wise person will keep silent^[d](ad) at such a time, for the days are evil.

Seek good and not evil so that you may live, and the Lord , the God of Hosts, will be with you, as you have claimed.^(ae)

Hate evil and love good;^(af) establish justice in the gate.^(ag) Perhaps the Lord , the God of Hosts, will be gracious^(ah) to the remnant of Joseph.^(ai)

Therefore Yahweh, the God of Hosts, the Lord, says: There will be wailing in all the public squares;^(aj) they will cry out in anguish^[e] in all the streets. The farmer will be called on to mourn,^(ak) and professional mourners^[f](al) to wail.

There will be wailing in all the vineyards,^(am) for I will pass among you.^(an) The Lord has spoken.

Woe to you who long for the Day of the Lord !^(ao) What will the Day of the Lord be for you? It will be darkness and not light.^(ap)

It will be like a man who flees from a lion^(aq) only to have a bear confront him. He goes home and rests his hand against the wall only to have a snake bite him.

Won't the Day of the Lord be darkness rather than light,^(ar) even gloom without any brightness in it?^(as)

I hate, I despise your feasts!^(at) I can't stand the stench of your solemn assemblies.^(au)

Even if you offer Me your burnt offerings and grain offerings,^(av) I will not accept them;^(aw) I will have no regard for your fellowship offerings of fattened cattle.^(ax)

Take away from Me the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.^(ay)

But let justice flow like water, and righteousness, like an unfailing stream.^(az)

"House of Israel, was it sacrifices and grain offerings that you presented to Me during the 40 years in the wilderness?^(ba)

But you have taken up^[g] Sakkuth^[h][i] your king^[j] and Kaiwan^[k] your star god, images you have made for yourselves.^(bb)

So I will send you into exile beyond Damascus."^(bc) Yahweh, the God of Hosts, is His name.^(bd) He has spoken.

Woe to those who are at ease in Zion^(a) and to those who feel secure on the hill of Samaria— the notable people in this first of the nations, those the house of Israel comes to.

Cross over to Calneh^(b) and see; go from there to great Hamath;^(c) then go down to Gath^(d) of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours?

You dismiss any thought of the evil day^(e) and bring in a reign of violence.^(f)

They lie on beds inlaid with ivory,^(g) sprawled out on their couches,^(h) and dine on lambs from the flock⁽ⁱ⁾ and calves from the stall.

They improvise songs^[a] to the sound of the harp^(j) and invent^[b] their own musical instruments like David.^(k)

They drink wine by the bowlful^(l) and anoint themselves with the finest oils but do not grieve over the ruin of Joseph.^(m)

Therefore, they will now go into exile as the first of the captives,⁽ⁿ⁾ and the feasting^(o) of those who sprawl out will come to an end.

The Lord God has sworn by Himself^(p)—this is the declaration of Yahweh, the God of Hosts: I loathe Jacob's pride^(q) and hate his citadels,^(r) so I will hand over the city^(s) and everything in it.

And if there are 10 men left in one house, they will die.^(t)

A close relative^[c] and burner^[d](u) will remove his corpse^[e] from the house. He will call to someone in the inner recesses of the house, "Any more with you?" That person will reply, "None." Then he will say, "Silence, because Yahweh's name must not be invoked."^(v)

For the Lord commands: The large house will be smashed to pieces, and the small house to rubble.^(w)

Do horses gallop on the cliffs; does anyone plow there with oxen?^[f] Yet you have turned justice into poison^(x) and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood^(y)—

you who rejoice over Lo-debar^(z) and say, "Didn't we capture Karnaim for ourselves by our own strength?"^(aa)

But look, I am raising up a nation against you, house of Israel^(ab)— this is the declaration of the Lord, the God of Hosts— and they will oppress you from the entrance of Hamath^[g](ac) to the Brook of the Arabah.^[h]