So I will send down fire upon Moab, and it will devour the fortified citadels of Kerioth. Moab will die in the uproar of battle, with a war cry and with the trumpeting of the ram's horn.

I also raised up your sons to be prophets, and from your young men I raised up Nazirites. Is this not true, people of Israel?" declares the LORD.

"But you forced the Nazirites to drink wine, and commanded the prophets, "You are not to prophesy!'

"You alone have I known from among all of the families of mankind; therefore I will hold you accountable for all your iniquities.'"

Because they do not know how to act right," declares the LORD, "they are filling their strongholds with treasures that they took from others by violence into their fortified citadels."

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD says: "An enemy will surround the land. He will pull down your defenses, and plunder your fortified citadels."

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."

"Listen to this message, you fat cows from Bashan, who live on the Samaritan mountains, who oppress the poor, who rob the needy, and who constantly ask your husbands for one more drink!"

"Come to Bethel and sin, to Gilgal and sin even more! Bring along your morning sacrifices, and pay your tithes every other day.

While you're at it, present a thank offering with leaven, and publicize your freewill offerings, letting everyone hear about it, because this is what you really love to do, you Israelis," declares the Lord GOD.

"I also have scheduled food shortages for you in all of your cities, and lack of bread in all of your settlements, but you haven't returned to me," declares the LORD.

So the people of two or three cities staggered away to another city in order to obtain drinking water, but you have not returned to me," declares the LORD.

"I afflicted you with blight and fungus; and the locust swarm devoured the harvest of your gardens, your vineyards, your fig trees, and your olive trees, but you have not returned to me," declares the LORD.

"I sent plagues among you as I did with Egypt. I killed your choicest young men with the sword. I took your horses away from you. I filled your noses with the stench of your encampments, but you have not returned to me," declares the LORD.

"I overthrew your cities, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You've become like a burning ember, snatched from the fire, but you have not returned to me," declares the LORD.

"Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel. Because I am about to do this, prepare to be summoned to your God, Israel!"

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.

and because I know that your transgressions are many, and your sins are numerous as you oppose the righteous, taking bribes as a ransom, and turning away the poor in court

And in all of the vineyards there will be mourning when I pass through your midst,' says the LORD."

"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.

It will be like a man who runs from a lion, only to encounter a bear; or who comes home, leans his hand against a wall, and a serpent bites him!

"I hate I despise your festival days, and your solemn convocations stink.

And if you send up burnt offerings to me as well as your grain offerings, I will not accept them, nor will I consider your peace offerings of fattened cattle.

Spare me your noisy singing I will not listen to your musical instruments.

And you carried the tent of your king and Saturn, your star god idols that you crafted for yourselves.

"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!

Cross over to Calneh and look around, then go on to that great city of Hamath, and from there go down to Gath of the Philistines. Are you better than these kingdoms? Or is their territory more extensive than yours?

lying on ivory beds, stretching out on your couches, eating lambs from the flock, and fattened calves from the stall,

chanting to the sound of stringed instruments as if they were David, composing songs to themselves as if they were musicians,

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

"And if there are ten men remaining in one house, they will die.

You rejoice in nothing worth mentioning that is, you keep on saying, "We captured Karnaim by our own strength of will and by our own effort, didn't we?'

This is what the Lord GOD showed me: Look! He was forming locust swarms as the latter plantings were just beginning to sprout. Indeed, the king had just taken his first fruit tax.

"Very well then, hear this message from the LORD: "You are saying, "Don't prophesy against Israel, and don't preach against the house of Isaac."

"Therefore this is what the LORD says: "Your wife will become a whore in the city, and your sons and daughters will die by the sword. Your land will be divided and apportioned, and you will die in a foreign land. Israel will surely go into exile, far from its homeland."'"

"Hear this, you who are swallowing up the needy, who intend to make the poor of the land fail,

and who are saying, "When will the New Moon fade so we may sell grain, and the Sabbath conclude so we may market winnowed wheat? shortchanging the measure, raising the price, falsifying the scales by treachery,

I will turn your festivals into mourning, and all of your songs to dirges. I will cause all of you to put on sackcloth and to shave all of your heads. I will make that time like mourning for an only son, and its conclusion will be like the end of a bitter day."

"Look! The days are coming," declares the Lord GOD, "when I will send a famine throughout the land not a famine of food or a thirst for water but rather a famine of hearing the words of the LORD.

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."

Look! The eyes of the Lord GOD are on the sinful kingdom. I will destroy it from the face of the earth; but I will not totally destroy the house of Jacob," declares the LORD.

All sinners among my people will die by the sword, especially all who are saying, "Disaster will not come upon or conquer us!'"

"Look! The days are coming," declares the LORD, "when the one who sows will overtake the harvester and the treader of grapes will overtake the planter. Fresh wine will drip down from the mountains, cascading down from the hills.

I will plant the people of Israel in their own land, never again to be torn out of their land that I gave them," says the LORD your God.