1HEAR this word that the LORD has spoken against you, O children of Israel, against the whole family which I brought up from the land of Egypt, saying,

2You only have I known of all the peoples and of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.

3Will two men go on a journey together unless they have made an appointment?

4Does a lion roar in the forest when he has no prey? Or does a lion cry out of his den if he has taken no prey?

5Will a bird fall into a snare upon the earth without a hunter? Or can a trap spring up from the ground and catch the prey without being set?

6Shall a trumpet be blown in the city, and the people be not afraid? Or shall there be misfortune in a city and the LORD has not done it?

7Surely the LORD God does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.

8The lion has roared, who will not fear? The LORD God has spoken, who can but prophesy?

9Proclaim it in the palaces of Ashdod and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountain of Samaria, and see the great tumults in the midst thereof and the oppression which is in it. 10For they do not know how to reprove, says the LORD, but they store up plunder and spoil in their palaces.

11Therefore thus says the LORD: A calamity shall surround the land; and its strength shall be brought down, and its palaces shall be spoiled.

12Thus says the LORD: As the shepherd takes out of the mouth of the lion two legs or a piece of an ear, so shall the children of Israel be delivered who dwell in Samaria, along with the people who dwell in Damascus, by a staff that strikes suddenly.

13Hear, and testify in the house of Jacob, says the LORD God, the God of hosts of Israel,

14That in the day that I punish the transgressions of Israel I will also punish the altars of Beth-el; and the horns of the altars shall be cut off and fall to the ground.

15And I will destroy the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory shall perish, and great houses shall be demolished, says the LORD.