Bind the chariot to the swift steed, O inhabitant of Lachish. She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee.

I will yet bring to thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah, him who shall possess thee. The glory of Israel shall come even to Adullam.

Make thee bald, and cut off thy hair for the sons of thy delight. Enlarge thy baldness as the vulture, for they have gone into captivity from thee.

If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies, [saying], I will prophesy to thee of wine and of strong drink, he shall even be the prophet of this people.

I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee. I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, as a flock in the midst of their pasture. They shall make great noise because of [the multit

And thou, O tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, to thee it shall come. Yea, the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.

Now why do thou cry out aloud? Is there no king in thee. Has thy counselor perished, that pangs have taken hold of thee as of a woman in travail?

And now many nations are assembled against thee, who say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye see [our desire] upon Zion.

But thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, which are little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee he shall come forth to me who is to be ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting.

And it shall come to pass in that day, says LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and will destroy thy chariots,

And I will cut off thy graven images and thy pillars out of the midst of thee, and thou shall no more worship the work of thy hands.

And I will pluck up thine Asherim out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy cities.

O my people, what have I done to thee? And in what have I wearied thee? Testify against me.

For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage. And I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

He has shown thee, O man, what is good. And what does LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?

Therefore I also have smitten thee with a grievous wound, I have made thee desolate because of thy sins.

Thou shall eat, but not be satisfied, and thy humiliation shall be in the midst of thee. And thou shall put away, but shall not save, and that which thou save I will give up to the sword.

Thou shall sow, but shall not reap, thou shall tread the olives, but shall not anoint thee with oil, and the vintage, but shall not drink the wine.

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

In that day they shall come to thee from Assyria and the cities of Egypt, and from Egypt even to the River, and from sea to sea, and mountain to mountain.

They shall lick the dust like a serpent. Like crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their close places. They shall come with fear to LORD our God, and shall be afraid because of thee.

Who is a God like to thee, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness.