The women of Samar'ia

1“Hear this word, you cows of Bashan,

who are in the mountain of Samar'ia,

who oppress the poor, who crush the needy,

who say to their husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’

2The Lord GOD has sworn by his holiness

that, behold, the days are coming upon you,

when they shall take you away with hooks,

even the last of you with fishhooks.

3And you shall go out through the breaches,

every one straight before her;

and you shall be cast forth into Harmon,”

says the LORD.

4“Come to Bethel, and transgress;

to Gilgal, and multiply transgression;

bring your sacrifices every morning,

your tithes every three days;

5offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened,

and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them;

for so you love to do, O people of Israel!”

says the Lord GOD.

6“I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,

and lack of bread in all your places,

yet you did not return to me,”

says the LORD.

7“And I also withheld the rain from you

when there were yet three months to the harvest;

I would send rain upon one city,

and send no rain upon another city;

one field would be rained upon,

and the field on which it did not rain withered;

8so two or three cities wandered to one city

to drink water, and were not satisfied;

yet you did not return to me,”

says the LORD.

9“I smote you with blight and mildew;

I laid waste4.9 Cn: Heb the multitude of your gardens and your vineyards;

your fig trees and your olive trees the locust devoured;

yet you did not return to me,”

says the LORD.

10“I sent among you a pestilence after the manner of Egypt;

I slew your young men with the sword;

I carried away your horses;4.10 Heb with the captivity of your horses

and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;

yet you did not return to me,”

says the LORD.

11“I overthrew some of you,

as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomor'rah,

and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning;

yet you did not return to me,”

says the LORD.

12“Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;

because I will do this to you,

prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”

13For lo, he who forms the mountains, and creates the wind,

and declares to man what is his thought;

who makes the morning darkness,

and treads on the heights of the earth —

the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name!