Hear this word, you [well-fed, pampered] cows (women) of Bashan who are on the mountain of Samaria,
Who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,
Who say to their husbands, “Bring [the wine] now, and let us drink!” [Ps 22:12; Ezek 39:18]
The Lord GOD has sworn [an oath] by His holiness
That, “Behold, the days are coming upon you
When they shall take you away with meat hooks,
And the last of you with fish hooks. [Ps 89:35]
“And you shall go out through the breaches [made in the city wall],
Every woman straight before her [unable to turn aside],
And you shall be cast to Harmon,”
Says the LORD.
¶“Come to Bethel [where the golden calf is] and transgress;
In Gilgal [where idols are worshiped] multiply transgression;
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
Your tithes every three days!
“Offer [by burning] a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened,
And [boastfully] proclaim freewill offerings, announce them.
For this you so love to do, O children of Israel!”
Says the Lord GOD.
¶“I also gave you cleanness of teeth [because of the famine] in all your cities
And lack of bread in all your places,
Yet you have not returned to Me [in repentance],” says the LORD.
“Furthermore, I withheld the rain from you
When there were still three months until the harvest.
Then I would send rain on one city,
And on another city I would not send rain;
One piece of ground was rained on,
While the part not rained on would dry up.
“So [the people of] two or three cities would stagger into one city to drink water,
But would not be satisfied;
Yet you have not returned to Me [in repentance],” says the LORD.
“I wounded you with blight [from the hot, blasting east wind] and with mildew;
And the caterpillar devoured
Your many gardens and vineyards, your fig trees and your olive trees;
Yet you have not returned to Me [in repentance],” says the LORD.
“I sent a plague among you like [those of] Egypt;
I killed your young men with the sword and I captured your horses,
I made the stench of your camp rise up into your nostrils;
Yet you have not returned to Me [in repentance],” says the LORD. [2 Kin 8:12; 13:3, 7]
“I overthrew and destroyed [some among] you, as [I, your] God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
And you were [rescued] like a log pulled out of the flame;
Yet you have not returned to Me [in repentance],” says the LORD. [Gen 19:24, 25; Is 13:19; Jer 49:18]
“Therefore this is what I shall do to you, O Israel;
Because I will do this to you,
Prepare to meet your God [in judgment], O Israel!”
For behold, He who forms the mountains and creates the wind
And declares to man what are His thoughts,
He who makes the dawn into darkness
And treads on the heights of the earth—
The LORD God of hosts is His name. [Ps 139:2; Dan 2:28]
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