The chat will start when you send the first message.
1Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan who live on Mount Samaria![#sn The expression cows of Bashan is used by the prophet to address the wealthy women of Samaria, who demand that their husbands satisfy their cravings. The derogatory language perhaps suggests that they, like the livestock of Bashan, were well fed, ironically in preparation for the coming slaughter. This phrase is sometimes cited to critique the book’s view of women.]
You oppress the poor;
you crush the needy.
You say to your husbands,
“Bring us more to drink!”
2The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his own holy character:[#tn Heb “swears by his holiness.”sn The message that follows is an unconditional oath, the fulfillment of which is just as certain as the Lord’s own holy character.]
“Certainly the time is approaching
when you will be carried away in baskets,
every last one of you in fishermen’s pots.
3Each of you will go straight through the gaps in the walls;[#tn Heb “and [through the] breaches you will go out, each straight ahead.”]
you will be thrown out toward Harmon.”
The Lord is speaking!
4“Go to Bethel and rebel![#sn Bethel and Gilgal were important formal worship centers because of their importance in Israel’s history. Here the Lord ironically urges the people to visit these places so they can increase their sin against him. Their formal worship, because it was not accompanied by social justice, only made them more guilty in God’s sight by adding hypocrisy to their list of sins. Obviously, theirs was a twisted view of the Lord. They worshiped a god of their own creation in order to satisfy their religious impulses (see 4:5: “For you love to do this”). Note that none of the rituals listed in 4:4-5 have to do with sin.map For location see Map4-G4; Map5-C1; Map6-E3; Map7-D1; Map8-G3.; #tn The Hebrew word translated “rebel” (also in the following line) could very well refer here to Israel’s violations of their covenant with God (see also the term “crimes” in 1:3 [with note] and the phrase “covenant transgressions” in 2:4 [with note]; 3:14).]
At Gilgal rebel some more!
Bring your sacrifices in the morning,
your tithes on the third day!
5Burn a thank offering of bread made with yeast![#sn For the background of the thank offering of bread made with yeast, see Lev 7:13.]
Make a public display of your voluntary offerings!
For you love to do this, you Israelites.”
The sovereign Lord is speaking!
6“But surely I gave you no food to eat in any of your cities;[#tn The Hebrew construction is emphatic (pronoun + verb). It underscores the stark contrast between the judgments that the Lord had been sending with the God of blessing Israel was celebrating in its worship (4:4-5).]
you lacked food everywhere you live.
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking!
7“I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest.[#sn Rain…three months before the harvest refers to the rains of late March-early April.]
I gave rain to one city, but not to another.
One field would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.
8People from two or three cities staggered into one city to get water,[#tn The words “people from” are supplied in the translation for clarification.; #tn Heb “to drink.”]
but remained thirsty.
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking!
9“I destroyed your crops with blight and disease.[#tn Heb “you.” By metonymy the crops belonging to these people are meant. See the remainder of this verse, which describes the agricultural devastation caused by locusts.]
Locusts kept devouring your orchards, vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees.
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking!
10“I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues.[#tn Heb “in the manner [or “way”] of Egypt.”]
I killed your young men with the sword,
along with the horses you had captured.
I made the stench from the corpses rise up into your nostrils.
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking!
11“I overthrew some of you the way God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.[#tn Several English versions substitute the first person pronoun (“I”) here for stylistic reasons (e.g., NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT).; #tn Heb “like God’s overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.” The divine name may be used in an idiomatic superlative sense here, in which case one might translate, “like the great [or “disastrous”] overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.”sn The destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah is described in Gen 19:1-29.]
You were like a burning stick snatched from the flames.
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking!
12“Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel.
Because I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, Israel!
13For here he is!
He formed the mountains and created the wind.
He reveals his plans to men.
He turns the dawn into darkness
and marches on the heights of the earth.
The Lord , the God who commands armies, is his name!”