For behold, Jehovah is coming out of His place, and will come down and walk on the high places of the earth.

And the mountains shall melt under Him, and the valleys shall tear themselves, as wax before the fire, and as waters poured down a steep place.

All this is for the transgression of Jacob, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem?

O inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the stallion; she is the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for the sins of Israel were found in you.

Woe to those who plot wickedness and prepare evil on their beds! When the morning is light they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.

So Jehovah says this: Behold, against this family I am plotting an evil from which you shall not remove your necks; nor shall you go proudly, but it is an evil time.

Do not drop words as they drop! They shall not drop words about these; they shall not draw back reproaches.

House of Jacob, it is said, The Spirit of Jehovah is limited, if these are His doings. Do not My words do good to him who walks uprightly?

Arise and depart! For this is not your rest, because of destroying uncleanness, even a grievous destruction.

And I said, Please hear, O heads of Jacob and magistrates of the house of Israel. Is it not for you to know justice?

Then they shall cry to Jehovah, but He will not answer them. He will even hide His face from them at that time, as they have done evil in their doings.

And the seers shall be ashamed, and the diviners ashamed; yea, they shall all cover their mustache, for there is no answer from God.

Her heads judge for a bribe, and her priests teach for pay, and her prophets divine for silver, yet they will lean on Jehovah and say, Is not Jehovah among us? No evil can come on us!

Therefore, on account of you, Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house into high places of the forest.

And many nations shall come and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, and to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths; for the Law shall go forth out of Zion, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.

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.

Now gather yourself in troops, daughter of a troop; one sets a siege against us; they shall strike the Judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.

And you, Bethlehem Ephratah, you being least among the thousands of Judah, out of you He shall come forth to Me, to become Ruler in Israel, He whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity.

And they shall mar the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod at her own entrances. And He shall deliver us from Assyria when he comes into our land, and when he treads within our border.

And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples, as dew from Jehovah, as showers on a blade of the grass, which does not wait for man, nor delay for the sons of men.

And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, who, if he goes through, both tramples and tears in pieces. And there is none to snatch back.

And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury on the nations, such as they have not heard.

He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does Jehovah require of you but to do justice and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God?

Are the treasures of wickedness still in the house of the wicked, and the short measure that is hateful?

For its rich men are full of violence, and its people have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

Woe is me! For I am like the gatherings of summer fruits, like the grape-gleanings of the vintage. There is no cluster to eat; my soul desires the first-ripe fruit.

The pious has perished from the earth, and there is none upright among men. For they all lie in wait for blood; each one hunts his brother with a net.

The best of them is like a briar; the most upright is sharper than a hedge of thorns. The day of your watchmen and your punishment comes; now their shame shall come.

Then my enemy shall see it; and shame shall cover her who said to me, Where is Jehovah your God? My eyes shall behold her; now she shall be trampled like the mud of the streets.

Feed your people with your rod, the flock of your inheritance, who dwell alone in the woods, in the midst of Carmel; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes by the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not keep His anger forever, because He delights in mercy.

He will turn again; He will have pity on us. He will trample our iniquities. Yea, You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.