This is what the LORD says: "Just as a shepherd might save from the lion's mouth only two leg bones or a scrap of an ear, the Israelis will be saved in a similar manner those in Samaria who sit on the remains of their broken beds, and those in Damascus who lie on the edge of their couches."

Those of you who are making justice taste bitter, and who have thrown righteousness to the ground:

They have hated those who are presenting their cases in court, detesting the one who speaks truthfully.

Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of the Heavenly Armies, the Lord, says: "There will be dirges in all of the streets; and in all of the highways they will cry out in anguish. They will call the farmer to mourning and those who lament to grieve.

"Woe to those who are craving the Day of the LORD! How is it to your benefit, this Day of the LORD? It's a day of darkness to you, and not light.

"Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, to those who rest on the mountain of Samaria the famous men of the nations to whom the house of Israel came!

therefore you will be the first to go into exile, and the celebrations of those who are lounging will end."

Those who have been swearing oaths by the sin of Samaria, or who say, "As your god lives, Dan"' or who say, "As the way of Beer-sheba lives"' will fall, and will never rise again."

I saw the Lord standing beside the altar as he was saying, "Strike the doorposts so that the thresholds tremble, bringing them down on the heads of all of them. Those who survive I will kill with the sword. Those who flee will not escape. There will be no deliverance for the fugitives.