Witnesses summoned against Israel

1Hear this word, people of Israel, the word the Lord has spoken against you – against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt:

2‘You only have I chosen

of all the families of the earth;

therefore I will punish you

for all your sins.’

3Do two walk together

unless they have agreed to do so?

4Does a lion roar in the thicket

when it has no prey?

Does it growl in its den

when it has caught nothing?

5Does a bird swoop down to a trap on the ground

when no bait is there?

Does a trap spring up from the ground

if it has not caught anything?

6When a trumpet sounds in a city,

do not the people tremble?

When disaster comes to a city,

has not the Lord caused it?

7Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing

without revealing his plan

to his servants the prophets.

8The lion has roared –

who will not fear?

The Sovereign Lord has spoken –

who can but prophesy?

9Proclaim to the fortresses of Ashdod

and to the fortresses of Egypt:

‘Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria;

see the great unrest within her

and the oppression among her people.’

10‘They do not know how to do right,’ declares the Lord,

‘who store up in their fortresses

what they have plundered and looted.’

11Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

‘An enemy will overrun your land,

pull down your strongholds

and plunder your fortresses.’

12This is what the Lord says:

‘As a shepherd rescues from the lion’s mouth

only two leg bones or a piece of an ear,

so will the Israelites living in Samaria be rescued,

with only the head of a bed

and a piece of fabric3:12 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. from a couch.3:12 Or Israelites be rescued, / those who sit in Samaria / on the edge of their beds / and in Damascus on their couches.’

13‘Hear this and testify against the descendants of Jacob,’ declares the Lord, the Lord God Almighty.

14‘On the day I punish Israel for her sins,

I will destroy the altars of Bethel;

the horns of the altar will be cut off

and fall to the ground.

15I will tear down the winter house

along with the summer house;

the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed

and the mansions will be demolished,’

declares the Lord.