| Chapter 3 |
1 | Hear the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning you, O ye children of Israel: concerning the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt, saying: |
2 | You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore will I visit upon you all your iniquities. |
3 | Shall two walk together except they be agreed? |
4 | Will a lion roar in the forest, if he have no prey? will the lion's whelp cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing ? |
5 | Will the bird fall into the snare upon the earth, if there be no fowler? Shall the snare be taken up from the earth, before it hath taken somewhat ? |
6 | Shall the trumpet sound in a city, and the people not be afraid? Shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord hath not done? |
7 | For the Lord God doth nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets. |
8 | The lion shall roar, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who shall not prophesy? |
9 | Publish it in the houses of Azotus, and in the houses of the land of Egypt, and say: Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the many follies in the midst thereof, and them that suffer oppression in the inner rooms thereof. |
10 | And they have not known to do the right thing, saith the Lord, storing up iniquity, and robberies in their houses. |
11 | Therefore thus saith the Lord God: The land shall be in tribulation, and shall be compassed about: and thy strength shall be taken away from thee, and thy houses shall be spoiled. |
12 | Thus saith the Lord: As if a shepherd should get out of the lion's mouth two legs, or the tip of the ear: so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria, in a piece of a bed, and in the couch of Damascus. |
13 | Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord the God of hosts: |
14 | That in the day when I shall begin to visit the transgressions of Israel, I will visit upon him, and upon the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altars shall be cut off, and shall fall to the ground. |
15 | And I will strike the winter house with the summer house: and the houses of ivory shall perish, and many houses shall be destroyed, saith the Lord. |