Hear all ye people, mark this well, O earth, and all that therein is: Yea, the LORD God himself be witness among you, even the Lord from his holy temple.

Announce it not in Gath [in Philistia],
Weep not at all [and in this way betray your grief to Gentiles];
In Beth-le-aphrah (House of Dust) roll in the dust [among your own people].

You wrongly evict widows among my people from their cherished homes. You defraud their children of their prized inheritance.

O ye judges, ye give sentence for gifts; O ye priests, ye teach for lucre; O ye prophets, ye prophesy for money. Yet will they be taken as those that hold upon God, and say, "Is not the LORD among us? Tush, there can no misfortune happen us."

And shall give sentence among the multitude of the Heathen and reform the people of far countries: so that of their swords they shall make plowshares, and scythes of their spears. One people shall not lift up a sword against another, yea they shall no more learn to fight.

Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king among you? Has your counselor perished? For pangs have taken you like one giving birth.

And thou, Beth-Lehem Ephratah, Little to be among the chiefs of Judah! From thee to Me he cometh forth -- to be ruler in Israel, And his comings forth are of old, From the days of antiquity.

And this will be our peace: when the Assyrian comes into our country and his feet are in our land, then we will put up against him seven keepers of the flocks and eight chiefs among men.

And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the multitude of people, as the dew of the LORD, and as the drops upon the grass, that tarrieth for no man, and waiteth of nobody.

Yea, the remnant of Jacob hath been among nations, In the midst of many peoples, As a lion among beasts of a forest, As a young lion among ranks of a flock, Which if it hath passed through, Hath both trodden down and hath torn, And there is no deliverer.

"And it will happen [that] in that day," {declares} Yahweh, "then I will cut off your horses from among you, and I will destroy your chariots.

And I will cut off sorceries out of your hand, and there shall not be fortune-tellers among you.

And I will cut off your idols and your stone pillars from among you, and you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands.

I will have your Asherahs pulled up from among you: and I will send destruction on your images.

Give ear now to the words of the Lord: Up! put forward your cause before the mountains, let your voice be sounding among the hills.

among those that be full of riches unrighteously gotten: where the citizens deal with falsity, speak lies, and have deceitful tongues in their mouths?

You'll eat, but you won't have enough; and hunger will be common among you. You'll horde things, but you won't save them, and what you preserve I'll give over to the sword.

There is not a godly man upon earth, there is not one righteous among men. They labour all to shed blood, and every man hunteth his brother to death:

The best of them is like a thorn; the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes. The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen -- your appointed time of punishment -- is on the way, and then you will experience confusion.

There is no other God like you! You forgive sin and pardon the rebellion of those who remain among your people. You do not remain angry forever, but delight in showing loyal love.