The Lord will punish the women of Samaria
1Listen what the Lord says to you,
women on Mount Samaria.
You are as fat as the cows
that eat a lot in the land of Bashan.
You oppress the people who are weak
and poor. You make them suffer.
You tell your husbands:
‘Bring wine so we can drink.’
2The Lord has promised and He,
the holy God Himself, is the Witness. He said:
‘There will come a time when the enemies
will take you away with sharp irons and hooks.
3You will all flee straight over the broken wall
and run away from the city.
The enemies will chase you away to Mount Harmon.’
This is what the Lord says.
The people of Israel did not come back to the Lord
4‘People of Israel, go to the town of Bethel
if you want to sin,
and go to Gilgal if you want to do more sin.
Bring your offerings every morning,
and bring your 10ths every 3rd day.
5Sacrifice thank-offerings
and bread with yeast in it.
Tell all the people about your offerings.
You Israelites love to boast about it.’
This is what the Lord says.
6‘I took away all your food
and let you go hungry
in every town where you lived.
But you did not come to Me.’
This is what the Lord says.
7‘I stopped the rain
before the wheat was ripe and ready to harvest.
I sent rain to one town,
but in the other towns it did not rain.
It rained on one field but not on another field
and it became dry.
8The people from 2 or 3 towns crawled
to another town to look for water
but they did not get enough water to drink.
But still you did not come back not to Me.’
This is what the Lord says.
9‘I made your wheat plants die
because it was too hot or because insects ate them.
Locusts destroyed your gardens
and your vineyards and your fig trees
and olive trees.
But you did not come back to Me.’
This is what the Lord says.
10‘I made you sick, and a lot of you
died like the Egyptians.
Your young men died in wars
and enemies took your horses.
I made your camp smell very bad
from all the dead bodies,
but still you did not come back to Me
or ask Me to help you.’
This is what the Lord says.
11‘I killed a lot of you as I killed
the people of Sodom and Gomorrah.
I saved you like a piece of firewood
that I had taken out of the fire.
But you did not come back to Me.’
This is what the Lord says.
12‘People of Israel, that is why
I will come to you now and
you must now prepare and get yourselves ready
to meet your God.
13It was God who made the mountains and the wind.
He tells the people what He wants to do.
He makes it dark when the sun should shine
and He walks over the highest mountain on earth.
His name is the Lord, God Almighty.’
