For, behold, the LORD comes forth out of his place, and will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.

The mountains melt under him, and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like waters that are poured down a steep place.

"All this is for the disobedience of Jacob, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the disobedience of Jacob? Isn't it Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Aren't they Jerusalem?

Therefore I will make Samaria like a rubble heap of the field, like places for planting vineyards; and I will pour down its stones into the valley, and I will uncover its foundations.

All her idols will be beaten to pieces, and all her temple gifts will be burned with fire, and all her images I will destroy; for of the hire of a prostitute has she gathered them, and to the hire of a prostitute shall they return."

For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will howl like the jackals, and moan like the daughters of owls.

For her wounds are incurable; for it has come even to Judah. It reaches to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

For the inhabitant of Maroth waits anxiously for good, because evil has come down from the LORD to the gate of Jerusalem.

Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitant of Lachish. She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; For the transgressions of Israel were found in you.

Shave your heads, and cut off your hair for the children of your delight. Enlarge your baldness like the vulture; for they have gone into captivity from you.

Therefore thus says the LORD: "Behold, I am planning against these people a disaster, from which you will not remove your necks, neither will you walk haughtily; for it is an evil time.

Arise, and depart. For this is not your resting place, because of uncleanness that destroys, even with a grievous destruction.

I said, "Please listen, you heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: Isn't it for you to know justice?

who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.

Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, "Peace." and whoever doesn't provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him:

The seers shall be disappointed, and the diviners confounded. Yes, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer from God."

But as for me, I am full of power by the Spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, and to Israel his sin.

Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on the LORD, and say, "Isn't the LORD in the midst of us? No disaster will come on us."

Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest.

Many nations will go and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths." For out of Zion will go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem;

But they will sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and no one will make them afraid: For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.

and I will make that which was lame a remnant, and that which was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD will reign over them on Mount Zion from then on, even forever."

Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now you will go forth out of the city, and will dwell in the field, and will come even to Babylon. There you will be rescued. There the LORD will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.

But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD, neither do they understand his counsel; for he has gathered them like the sheaves to the threshing floor.

Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs brass; and you will beat in pieces many peoples: and I will devote their gain to the LORD, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.

He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God: and they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.

The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass, that do not wait for man, nor wait for the sons of men.

Hear, you mountains, the LORD's controversy, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the LORD has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.

For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab. You walk in their counsels, that I may make you a ruin, and her inhabitants a hissing; And you will bear the reproach of my people."

The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net.

Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; and the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.

For the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.

But as for me, I will look to the LORD. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my case, and executes judgment for me. He will bring me forth to the light. I will see his righteousness.

Yet the land will be desolate because of those who dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.

They will lick the dust like a serpent. Like crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their dens. They will come with fear to the LORD our God, and will be afraid because of you.