Thus will I break the bars of Damascus, and root out the inhabiter from the field of Aven, and him that holdeth the scepter, out of the pleasant house: so that the people shall be driven out of fair Syria,' sayeth the LORD.

Thus sayeth the LORD, 'like as a herdsman taketh two legs or a piece of an ear out of the lion's mouth: Even so the children of Israel that dwell in Samaria, having their couches in the corner, and the beds at Damascus, shall be plucked away.

'Therefore thus will I handle thee again, O Israel: yea, even thus will I handle thee. Make thee ready then to meet thy God, O Israel.

O Woe be to the proud wealthy in Zion, to such as think them so sure upon the mount of Samaria: which hold themselves for the best of the world, and rule the house of Israel, even as they list.

Ye are taken out for the evil day, even ye that sit in the stole of willfulness;

"'The LORD God hath sworn even by himself,' sayeth the LORD God of hosts, 'I hate the pride of Jacob, and I abhor his palaces: and I will give over the city, with all that is therein:

Yea, even ye that rejoice in vain things: ye that say, 'Have not we obtained horns in our own strength?'

The LORD God showed me such a vision: behold, there stood one that made grasshoppers, even when the corn was shooting forth, after the king had clipped his sheep.

yea even they that swear in the offense of Samaria, and say, 'As truly as thy God liveth at Dan, and as truly as thy God liveth at Beersheba' These shall fall, and never rise up again."

Though they hide themselves upon the top of Carmel, yet shall I seek them out, and bring them from thence. Though they creep down from my sight into the deep of the sea, I shall command the serpent, even there to bite them.

O ye children of Israel, are ye not unto me, even as the Ethiopian?" sayeth the LORD, "Have not I brought Israel out of the land of Egypt, the Philistines from Caphthor, and the Syrians from Kir?