"Thus sayeth the LORD, 'For three and four wickednesses of Judah, I will not spare him: because he hath cast aside the law of the LORD, and not kept his commandments: For why? They would needs be deceived with the lies that their forefathers followed.

"'Preach in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces of the land of Egypt, and say, 'Gather you together upon the mountains of Samaria, so shall ye see great murder and violent oppression among them.' For why? They regard not the thing that is right,

Hear this word, O ye house of Israel. And why? I must make this moan for you:

Forsomuch then as ye oppress the poor, and rob him of his best sustenance: therefore, where as ye have builded houses of square stone, ye shall not dwell in them. Marvelous pleasant vineyards shall ye plant; but the wine of them shall ye not drink. And why?

Who can run with horses, or plow with oxen upon the hard rocks of stone? For why? Ye have turned true judgment into bitterness, and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood.

For when the LORD God of hosts toucheth a land, it consumeth away, and all they that dwell therein, must needs mourn: And why? Their destruction shall arise as every stream and run over them, as the flood in Egypt.