For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. Whence is the transgression of Jacob? is it not from Samaria? And whence are the high places of Judah? are they not from Jerusalem?

For her wounds are incurable; for it is come even unto Judah, it reacheth unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

Bind the chariot to the swift steed, O inhabitress of Lachish: she was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; for in thee were found the transgressions of Israel.

Make thee bald, and poll thee for the children of thy delights; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle, for they are gone into captivity from thee.

Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye walk haughtily: for it is an evil time.

In that day shall they take up a proverb concerning you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We are utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me! He hath distributed our fields to the rebellious.

O thou that art named the house of Jacob, Is Jehovah impatient? are these his doings? Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?

But of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye strip off the mantle with the garment from them that pass by securely, that are averse from war.

One that breaketh through is gone up before them: they have broken forth, and have passed on to the gate, and are gone out by it; and their king passeth on before them, and Jehovah at the head of them.

Thus saith Jehovah concerning the prophets that cause my people to err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace! but whoso putteth not into their mouths they prepare war against him:

Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

And he shall judge among many peoples, and reprove strong nations, even afar off; and they shall forge their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-knives: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

For all the peoples will walk every one in the name of his god; but we will walk in the name of Jehovah, our God for ever and ever.

And now many nations are assembled against thee, that say, Let her be profaned, and let our eye look upon Zion.

(And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall he come forth unto me who is to be Ruler in Israel: whose goings forth are from of old, from the days of eternity.)

And this man shall be Peace. When the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight princes of men.

And they shall waste the land of Asshur with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof; and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.

Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah, bow myself before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old?

Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure which is abominable?

For her rich men are full of violence, and her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and ye walk in their counsels: that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing; and ye shall bear the reproach of my people.

Both hands are for evil, to do it well. The prince asketh, and the judge is there for a reward; and the great man uttereth his soul's greed: and together they combine it.

For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law: a man's enemies are the men of his own household.

And mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her which said unto me, Where is Jehovah thy God? Mine eyes shall behold her; now shall she be trodden down, as the mire of the streets.

They shall lick dust like the serpent; like crawling things of the earth, they shall come trembling forth from their close places. They shall turn with fear to Jehovah our God, and shall be afraid because of thee.

He will yet again have compassion on us, he will tread under foot our iniquities: and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

Thou wilt perform truth to Jacob, loving-kindness to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers, from the days of old.