Words of doom for Israel

¹Hear this word that the LORD has spoken against you, people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought out of the land of Egypt:

²You only have I loved so deeply

Therefore, I will punish you

³Will two people walk together

⁴Does a lion roar in the forest

Does a young lion cry out from its den

⁵Will a bird fall into a trap on the ground

Will a trap spring up from the ground

⁶If a ram’s horn is blown in a city,

If disaster falls on a city,

⁷Surely the LORD God does nothing

⁸A lion has roared;

The LORD God has spoken;

⁹Proclaim it to the palaces of Ashdod

Say, “Gather yourselves on Mount Samaria,

¹⁰They don’t know how to do right,

¹¹Therefore, the LORD my God proclaims:

he will bring you down from your protected places,

¹²The LORD proclaims:

Just as the shepherd rescues two legs or the piece of an ear from the mouth of the lion, so will the people of Israel be rescued. Those who live in Samaria will escape with the corner of a bed, and those in Damascus with a piece of a couch.

¹³Hear this and speak against the house of Jacob,

¹⁴On the day I punish the crimes of Israel,

I will also visit the altars of Bethel;

¹⁵I will tear down the winter house as well as the summer house;