Through the Bible – Day 351

₁You women of Samaria

are fat cows!

You ill-treat and abuse

the poor and needy,

then you say to your husbands,

“Bring us more drinks!”

₂I, the LORD God, have sworn

by my own name

that your time is coming.

Not one of you will be left—

you will be taken away

by sharp hooks.

₃You will be dragged through holes

in your city walls,

and you will be thrown

towards Harmon.

I, the LORD, have spoken!

₄Come to Bethel and Gilgal.

Sin all you want!

Offer sacrifices the next morning

and bring a tenth of your crops

on the third day.

₅Bring offerings to show me

how thankful you are.

Gladly bring more offerings

than I have demanded.

You really love to do this.

I, the LORD God, have spoken!

₆I, the LORD, took away the food

from every town and village,

but still you rejected me.

₇Three months before harvest,

I kept back the rain.

Sometimes I would let it fall

on one town or field

but not on another,

and pastures dried up.

₈People from two or three towns

would go to a town

that still had water,

but it wasn't enough.

Even then you rejected me.

I, the LORD, have spoken!

₉I dried up your grain fields;

your gardens and vineyards

turned brown.

Locusts ate your fig trees

and olive orchards,

but even then you rejected me.

I, the LORD, have spoken!

₁₀I did terrible things to you,

just as I did to Egypt—

I killed your young men in war;

I let your horses be stolen,

and I made your camp stink

with dead bodies.

Even then you rejected me.

I, the LORD, have spoken!

₁₁I destroyed many of you,

just as I did the cities

of Sodom and Gomorrah.

You were a burning stick

I rescued from the fire.

Even then you rejected me.

I, the LORD, have spoken!

₁₂Now, Israel, I myself

will deal with you.

Get ready to face your God!

₁₃I created the mountains

and the wind.

I let humans know

what I am thinking.

I bring darkness at dawn

and step over hills.

I am the LORD God All-Powerful!

₁Listen, nation of Israel,

to my mournful message:

₂you, dearest Israel, have fallen,

never to rise again—

you lie deserted in your own land,

with no one to help you up.

₃The LORD God has warned,

“From every ten soldiers

only one will be left;

from a thousand troops,

only a hundred will survive.”

₄The LORD keeps saying,

“Israel, turn back to me

and you will live!

₅Don't go to Gilgal or Bethel

or even to Beersheba.

Gilgal will be dragged away,

and Bethel will end up

as nothing.”

₆Turn back to the LORD,

you descendants of Joseph,

and you will live.

If you don't, the LORD

will attack like fire.

Bethel will burn to the ground,

and no one can save it.

₇You people are doomed!

You twist the truth

and trample on justice.

₈But the LORD created the stars

and put them in place.

He turns darkness to dawn

and daylight to darkness;

he scoops up the ocean

and empties it on the earth.

₉God destroys mighty soldiers

and strong fortresses.

₁₀You people hate judges

and honest witnesses;

₁₁you abuse the poor and demand

heavy taxes from them.

You have built expensive homes,

but you won't enjoy them;

you have planted vineyards,

but you will get no wine.

₁₂I am the LORD, and I know

your terrible sins.

You cheat honest people

and take bribes;

you rob the poor of justice.

₁₃Times are so evil

that anyone with good sense

will keep quiet.

₁₄If you really want to live,

you must stop doing wrong

and start doing right.

I, the LORD God All-Powerful,

will then be on your side,

just as you claim I am.

₁₅Choose good instead of evil!

See that justice is done.

Perhaps I, the LORD All-Powerful,

will be kind to what's left

of your people.

Noisy crying will be heard

in every town and street.

Even farmers will be told

to mourn for the dead,

together with those

who are paid to mourn.

₁₇Your vineyards will be filled

with crying and weeping,

because I will punish you.

I, the LORD, have spoken!

₁₈You look forward to the day

when the LORD comes to judge.

But you are in for trouble!

It won't be a time of sunshine;

all will be darkness.

₁₉You will run from a lion,

only to meet a bear.

You will escape to your house,

rest your hand on the wall,

and be bitten by a snake.

₂₀The day when the LORD judges

will be dark, very dark,

without a ray of light.

₂₁I, the LORD, hate and despise

your religious celebrations

and your times of worship.

₂₂I won't accept your offerings

or animal sacrifices—

not even your very best.

₂₃No more of your noisy songs!

I won't listen

when you play your harps.

₂₄But let justice and fairness

flow like a river

that never runs dry.

₂₅Israel, for forty years

you wandered in the desert,

without bringing offerings

or sacrifices to me.

₂₆Now you will have to carry

the two idols you made—

Sakkuth, the one you call king,

and Kaiwan, the one you built

in the shape of a star.

₂₇I will force you to march

as captives beyond Damascus.

I, the LORD God All-Powerful,

have spoken!

₁Do you rulers in Jerusalem

and in the city of Samaria

feel safe and at ease?

Everyone bows down to you,

and you think you are better

than any other nation.

But you are in for trouble!

₂Look what happened

to the cities of Calneh,

powerful Hamath,

and Gath in Philistia.

Are you greater than any

of those kingdoms?

₃You are cruel, and you forget

the coming day of judgment.

₄You rich people lounge around

on beds with ivory posts,

while dining on the meat

of your lambs and calves.

₅You sing foolish songs

to the music of harps,

and you make up new tunes,

just as David used to do.

₆You drink all the wine you want

and wear expensive perfume,

but you don't care about

the ruin of your nation.

₇So you will be the first

to be dragged off as captives;

your good times will end.

₈The LORD God All-Powerful

has sworn by his own name:

“You descendants of Jacob

make me angry by your pride,

and I hate your fortresses.

And so I will surrender your city

and possessions

to your enemies.”

₉If only ten of you survive

by hiding in a house

you will still die.

₁₀As you carry out a corpse

to prepare it for burial,

your relative in the house

will ask, “Are there others?”

You will answer, “No!”

Then your relative will reply,

“Be quiet! Don't dare mention

the name of the LORD.”

₁₁At the LORD's command,

houses great and small

will be smashed to pieces.

₁₂Horses can't gallop on rocks;

oceans can't be ploughed.

But you have turned justice

and fairness

into bitter poison.

₁₃You celebrate the defeat

of Lo-Debar and Karnaim,

and you boast by saying,

“We did it on our own.”

₁₄But the LORD God All-Powerful

will send a nation to attack

you people of Israel.

They will capture Lebo-Hamath

in the north,

Arabah Brook in the south,

and everything in between.