'Thus Says the Lord' in the Bible

Thus says the Lord,“For three transgressions of Damascus and for four (multiplied delinquencies)I shall not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,Because they have threshed Gilead [east of the Jordan River] with sharp iron sledges [having spikes that crushed and shredded].

Thus says the Lord,“For three transgressions of Gaza [in Philistia] and for four (multiplied delinquencies)I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,Because [as slave traders] they took captive the entire [Jewish] population [of defenseless Judean border villages, of which none was spared]And deported them to Edom [for the slave trade].

Thus says the Lord,“For three transgressions of Tyre and for four (multiplied delinquencies)I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,Because they [as middlemen] deported an entire [Jewish] population to EdomAnd did not [seriously] remember their covenant of brotherhood.

Thus says the Lord,“For three transgressions of Edom [the descendants of Esau] and for four (multiplied delinquencies)I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,Because he pursued his brother Jacob (Israel) with the sword,Corrupting and stifling his compassions and casting off all mercy;His destructive anger raged continually,And he maintained [and nurtured] his wrath forever.

Thus says the Lord,“For three transgressions of the children of Ammon and for four (multiplied delinquencies)I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,Because the Ammonites have ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead,That they might enlarge their border.

Thus says the Lord,“For three transgressions of Moab and for four (multiplied delinquencies)I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom [Esau’s descendant] into lime [and used it to plaster a Moabite house].

Thus says the Lord,“For three transgressions of Judah and for four (multiplied delinquencies)I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,Because they have rejected the law of the Lord [the sum of God’s instruction to His people]And have not kept His commandments;But their lies [and their idols], after which their fathers walked,Caused them to go astray.

Thus says the Lord,“For three transgressions of Israel and for four (multiplied delinquencies)I will not reverse its punishment or revoke My word concerning it,Because they sell the righteous and innocent for silverAnd the needy for the price of a pair of sandals.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God,“An adversary (Assyria), even one surrounding the land,Shall pull down your strength from youAnd your fortresses will be looted.”

Thus says the Lord,“Just as the shepherd snatches from the mouth of the lion a couple of legs or a piece of the [sheep’s] ear [to prove to the owner that he has not stolen the animal],So will the [remaining] children of Israel living in Samaria be snatched awayWith the corner of a bed and [part of] the damask covering of a couch.

For thus says the Lord God,“The city which goes forth a thousand strongWill have a hundred left,And the one which goes forth a hundred strongWill have ten left to the house of Israel.”

For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel,“Seek Me [search diligently for Me and regard Me as more essential than food] so that you may live.

Therefore, thus says the Lord God of hosts, the Lord,“There is wailing in all the public plazas,And in all the streets they say, ‘Alas! Alas!’And they call the farmers to mourning [for those who have died]And professional mourners to wailing.

Therefore, thus says the Lord, ‘Your wife shall become a prostitute in the city [when the Assyrians capture Samaria] and your sons and your daughters shall fall by the sword, and your land shall be divided by a measuring line; you yourself shall die in an unclean and defiled [pagan] land, and Israel shall certainly go from its land into exile.’”