First Pronouncement of Punishment
3 Hear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying:
2 You alone have I known
of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you
for all your iniquities.
3 Do two people walk together,
if they have not agreed?
4 Does a lion roar in the forest,
if it has no prey?
Does a young lion cry out from its den,
if it has not caught something?
5 Does a bird fall into a trap on the ground,
if there was no snare for it?
Does a trap spring up from the ground,
if it has not caught something?
6 If the trumpet blasts in the city,
are not the people frightened?
If there is disaster against a city,
is it not the Lord who has done it?
7 Surely the Lord God does nothing
without revealing His purpose
to His servants the prophets.
8 The lion has roared;
who will not fear?
The Lord God has spoken;
who can but prophesy?
9 Proclaim to the fortresses in Ashdod,
and the fortresses in the land of Egypt, and say:
“Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria,
and see the great disorders within her,
and the oppression in her midst.”
10 They do not know how to do right, says the Lord,
storing up violence and destruction in their fortresses.
11 Therefore thus says the Lord God:
An enemy will surround your land;
he will tear down your defenses,
and your fortresses will be plundered.
12 Thus says the Lord:
As the shepherd rescues out of the mouth of the lion
a pair of legs or a piece of an ear,
so will the children of Israel be rescued,
those who live in Samaria,
with the corner of a bed
or a piece of a couch.
13 Hear and testify against the house of Jacob, says the Lord God, the God of Hosts:
14 Surely on the day I punish the transgressions of Israel,
I will also punish the altars of Bethel;
the horns of the altar will be cut off
and fall to the ground.
15 I will destroy the winter house
as well as the summer house,
and the houses of ivory will perish;
the great houses will come to an end,
says the Lord.
