1Hear this word , ye kine of Bashan , that are in the mountain of Samaria , which oppress the poor , which crush the needy , which say to their masters , Bring , and let us drink . 2The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness , that, lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks , and your posterity with fishhooks . 3And ye shall go out at the breaches , every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace , saith the LORD .
The Consequences of Disobedience
4Come to Beth-el , and transgress ; at Gilgal multiply transgression ; and bring your sacrifices every morning , and your tithes after three years : 5And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven , and proclaim and publish the free offerings : for this liketh you, O ye children of Israel , saith the Lord GOD .
God's Attempts to Call Israel to Repentance
6And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities , and want of bread in all your places : yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD . 7And also I have withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest : and I caused it to rain upon one city , and caused it not to rain upon another city : one piece was rained upon, and the piece whereupon it rained not withered . 8So two or three cities wandered unto one city , to drink water ; but they were not satisfied : yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD . 9I have smitten you with blasting and mildew : when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased , the palmerworm devoured them: yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD . 10I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt : your young men have I slain with the sword , and have taken away your horses ; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils : yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD . 11I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah , and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning : yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD .
The Certainty of Judgment
12Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Israel : and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God , O Israel . 13For, lo, he that formeth the mountains , and createth the wind , and declareth unto man what is his thought , that maketh the morning darkness , and treadeth upon the high places of the earth , The LORD , The God of hosts , is his name .