Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Judah, and for four, I will not turn away their punishment: because they have despised the law of the LORD, and have not kept his commandments, and their lies caused them to err, after which their fathers have walked:

And I raised up of your sons for prophets, and of your young men for Nazarites. Is it not even thus, O ye children of Israel? saith the LORD.

You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

Can two walk together, except they are agreed?

Can a bird fall in a snare upon the earth, where no gin is for him? shall one take up a snare from the earth, and have taken nothing at all?

Thus saith the LORD: As the shepherd taketh out of the mouth of the lion two legs, or a piece of an ear; so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria in the corner of a bed, and in Damascus in a couch.

Hear this word, ye heifers of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink.

The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness, that lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fish-hooks,

Come to Beth-el and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years:

And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD.

And also I have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest: and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city: one piece was rained upon, and the piece on which it rained not withered.

So two or three cities wandered to one city, to drink water; but they were not satisfied: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD.

I have smitten you with blasting and mildew: when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig-trees and your olive-trees increased, the palmer-worm devoured them: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD.

I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt: your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses; and I have made the ill savor of your camps to come up to your nostrils: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD.

I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and ye were as a fire-brand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD.

Forasmuch therefore as your treading is upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them.

For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.

Therefore the LORD, the God of hosts, the Lord, saith thus; Wailing shall be in all streets; and they shall say in all the highways, Alas! alas! and they shall call the husbandman to mourning, and such as are skillful in lamentation to wailing.

As if a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house, and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him.

I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies.

Though ye offer me burnt-offerings and your meat-offerings, I will not accept them; neither will I regard the peace-offerings of your fat beasts.

But ye have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which ye made to yourselves.

Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, who are named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came!

Pass ye to Calneh, and see; and from thence go ye to Hamath the great: then go down to Gath of the Philistines: are they better than these kingdoms? or their border greater than your border?

That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph.

Ye who rejoice in a thing of naught, who say, Have we not taken to us horns by our own strength?

And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end of it as a bitter day.

And though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out thence; and though they are hid from my sight in the bottom of the sea, thence will I command the serpent, and he shall bite them:

Are ye not as children of the Cushites to me, O children of Israel? saith the LORD. Have not I brought up Israel from the land of Egypt? and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Assyrians from Kir?

Behold, the eyes of the Lord GOD are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; saving that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith the LORD.

That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, who are called by my name, saith the LORD that doeth this.