Thus says Yahweh, "For three transgressions of Damascus and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron!

Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Gaza and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they exiled a whole community, handing them over to Edom!

Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Tyre and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they delivered up a whole community to Edom and they did not remember the covenant of brotherhood!

Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Ammon and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they ripped open the pregnant women of Gilead in order to enlarge their territory!

Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Judah and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they have rejected the law of Yahweh and have not kept his rules, and their lies have led them astray, {after which their ancestors walked}!

Thus says Yahweh: "For three transgressions of Israel and for four I will not revoke [the punishment], because they sell the righteous for money and the poor for a pair of sandals!

Those who trample the heads of the powerless into the dust of the ground and turn aside the way of the destitute, a man and his father {have sexual relations with} the same girl, so that [they] profane my holy name.

They stretch themselves out beside every altar on clothing taken in pledge and they drink wine, bought with fines imposed, in the house of their God.

Do two walk together unless they have met?

"They do not know [how] to do right," {declares Yahweh}, "those who store up violence and destruction in their citadel fortresses."

My Lord Yahweh has sworn by his holiness that, "Behold, the days are coming upon you {when they} will take you away with hooks, even the last of you with fishing hooks.

So two [or] three cities wandered to one city to drink water and they were not satisfied, yet you did not return to me," [is] the declaration of Yahweh.

They hate the one who reproves in the gate and they abhor the one who speaks honestly.

Therefore, thus says Yahweh, the God of hosts, my Lord, "In all [of] the public squares [there will be] wailing, and in all [of] the streets [they will say], 'Alas, alas, alas!' They shall call [the] farmers to mourning and [to] wailing, to those who are skilled [in] lamentation.

[Alas for those] who sing to the tune of the harp; like David they improvise on instruments of music.

Therefore, they shall now go into exile at the head of the exiles and the feast of lounging shall pass away.

And then if ten people remain in one house, they too will die.

Indeed, I [am] going to raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, {declares} Yahweh, the God of hosts. And they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath up to the wadi of the Arabah.

And then when they finished eating the vegetation of the land, I said, "O Lord Yahweh, please forgive! How can Jacob stand, because he [is] small?"

And they will wander from sea to sea and from [the] north and to [the] east. They will roam about to seek the word of Yahweh, but they will not find [it]!

[These are] those who swear by the guilt of Samaria and say, 'By the life of your gods, O Dan,' and 'By the life of the way of Beersheba,' they will fall and they will not rise again."

If they dig into Sheol, from there my hand will take them, and [even] if they climb up [to] heaven, from there I will bring them down.

And [even] if they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search and will take them, and [even] if they hide from before my eyes at the bottom of the sea, from there I will command the sea serpent and it will bite them.

And [even] if they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword and it will kill them, and I will fix my eyes on them for harm and not for good."

Thus they may take possession of the remnant of Edom and all the nations {who are called by my name}," {declares} Yahweh, [who] does this.

And I will restore the fortunes of my people Israel, and they will rebuild [the] desolated cities and will inhabit [them]. And they will plant vineyards and will drink their wine, and they will make gardens and will eat their fruit.

And I will plant them on their land and they will not be uprooted again from their land that I have given to them," says Yahweh your God.