¹“Listen to this word which Adonai has spoken against you, people of Isra’el, against the entire family that I brought up from the land of Egypt:

²“Of all the families on earth,

only you have I intimately known.

This is why I will punish you

for all your crimes.”

³Do two people travel together

without having so agreed?

⁴Does a lion roar in the forest

when it has no prey?

Does a young lion growl in his lair

if it has caught nothing?

⁵Does a bird get caught in a trap on the ground

if it hasn’t been baited?

Does a trap spring up from the ground

when it has taken nothing?

⁶When the shofar is blown in the city,

don’t the people tremble?

Can disaster befall a city

without Adonai ’s having done it?

⁷Adonai , God, does nothing without

revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

⁸The lion has roared. Who will not fear?

Adonai , God, has spoken. Who will not prophesy?

⁹“Proclaim it on the palaces in Ashdod

and on the palaces in the land of Egypt; say:

‘Assemble yourselves on the hills of Shomron!

See what great tumult is seething within it,

how much oppression is being done there.’

¹⁰For they don’t know how to do right,” says Adonai .

“They store up violence and robbery in their palaces.”

¹¹Therefore, here is what Adonai Elohim says:

“An enemy will surround the land.

He will strip you of your strength,

and plunder your palaces.”

¹²This is what Adonai says:

¹³“As a shepherd rescues from the mouth of a lion

a couple of leg bones or a piece of an ear;

so the people of Isra’el in Shomron will be rescued,

huddled under cushions in the corners of their beds.

“Hear, and testify against the house of Ya‘akov,”

says Adonai Elohim Elohei-Tzva’ot .

¹⁴“For when I punish Isra’el’s crimes,

I will also punish the altars of Beit-El.

The horns of the altar will be cut off,

and they will fall to the ground.

¹⁵I will tear down winter houses

as well as summer houses;

houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed;

the mansions will be no more,” says Adonai .