Bible Reading Plan – Day 166

₁Listen to this, you women of Samaria, who grow fat like the well-fed cows of Bashan, who ill-treat the weak, oppress the poor, and demand that your husbands keep you supplied with liquor! ₂As the Sovereign LORD is holy, he has promised, “The days will come when they will drag you away with hooks; every one of you will be like a fish on a hook. ₃You will be dragged to the nearest break in the wall and thrown out.”

₄The Sovereign LORD says, “People of Israel, go to the holy place in Bethel and sin, if you must! Go to Gilgal and sin with all your might! Go ahead and bring animals to be sacrificed morning after morning, and bring your tithes every third day. ₅Go ahead and offer your bread in thanksgiving to God, and boast about the extra offerings you bring! This is the kind of thing you love to do.

₆“I was the one who brought famine to all your cities, yet you did not come back to me. ₇I held back the rain when your crops needed it most. I sent rain on one city, but not on another. Rain fell on one field, but another field dried up. ₈Weak with thirst, the people of several cities went to a city where they hoped to find water, but there was not enough to drink. Still you did not come back to me.

₉“I sent a scorching wind to dry up your crops. The locusts ate up all your gardens and vineyards, your fig trees and olive trees. Still you did not come back to me.

₁₀“I sent a plague on you like the one I sent on Egypt. I killed your young men in battle and took your horses away. I filled your nostrils with the stink of dead bodies in your camps. Still you did not come back to me.

₁₁“I destroyed some of you as I destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Those of you who survived were like a burning stick saved from a fire. Still you did not come back to me,” says the LORD. ₁₂“So then, people of Israel, I am going to punish you. And because I am going to do this, get ready to face my judgement!”

₁Listen, people of Israel, to this funeral song which I sing over you:

₃The Sovereign LORD says, “A city in Israel sends out a thousand soldiers, but only a hundred return; another city sends out a hundred, but only ten come back.”

₄The LORD says to the people of Israel, “Come to me, and you will live. ₅Do not go to Beersheba to worship. Do not try to find me at Bethel — Bethel will come to nothing. Do not go to Gilgal — her people are doomed to exile.”

₆Go to the LORD, and you will live. If you do not go, he will sweep down like fire on the people of Israel. The fire will burn up the people of Bethel, and no one will be able to put it out. ₇You are doomed, you that twist justice and cheat people out of their rights!

₁₀You people hate anyone who challenges injustice and speaks the whole truth in court. ₁₁You have oppressed the poor and robbed them of their grain. And so you will not live in the fine stone houses you build or drink wine from the beautiful vineyards you plant. ₁₂I know how terrible your sins are and how many crimes you have committed. You persecute good people, take bribes, and prevent the poor from getting justice in the courts. ₁₃And so, keeping quiet in such evil times is the clever thing to do!

₁₄Make it your aim to do what is right, not what is evil, so that you may live. Then the LORD God Almighty really will be with you, as you claim he is. ₁₅Hate what is evil, love what is right, and see that justice prevails in the courts. Perhaps the LORD will be merciful to the people of this nation who are still left alive.

₁₆And so the Sovereign LORD Almighty says, “There will be wailing and cries of sorrow in the city streets. Even farmers will be called to mourn the dead along with those who are paid to mourn. ₁₇There will be wailing in all the vineyards. All this will take place because I am coming to punish you.” The LORD has spoken.

₁₈How terrible it will be for you who long for the day of the LORD! What good will that day do you? For you it will be a day of darkness and not of light. ₁₉It will be like someone who runs from a lion and meets a bear! Or like someone who comes home and puts his hand on the wall — only to be bitten by a snake! ₂₀The day of the LORD will bring darkness and not light; it will be a day of gloom, without any brightness.

₂₁The LORD says, “I hate your religious festivals; I cannot stand them! ₂₂When you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them; I will not accept the animals you have fattened to bring me as offerings. ₂₃Stop your noisy songs; I do not want to listen to your harps. ₂₄Instead, let justice flow like a stream, and righteousness like a river that never goes dry.

₂₅“People of Israel, I did not demand sacrifices and offerings during those forty years that I led you through the desert. ₂₆But now, because you have worshipped images of Sakkuth, your king god, and of Kaiwan, your star god, you will have to carry those images ₂₇when I take you into exile in a land beyond Damascus,” says the LORD, whose name is Almighty God.

₁How terrible it will be for you that have such an easy life in Zion and for you that feel safe in Samaria — you great leaders of this great nation Israel, you to whom the people go for help! ₂Go and look at the city of Calneh. Then go on to the great city of Hamath and on down to the Philistine city of Gath. Were they any better than the kingdoms of Judah and Israel? Was their territory larger than yours? ₃You refuse to admit that a day of disaster is coming, but what you do only brings that day closer. ₄How terrible it will be for you that stretch out on your luxurious couches, feasting on veal and lamb! ₅You like to compose songs, as David did, and play them on harps. ₆You drink wine by the bowlful and use the finest perfumes, but you do not mourn over the ruin of Israel. ₇So you will be the first to go into exile. Your feasts and banquets will come to an end.

₈The Sovereign LORD Almighty has given this solemn warning: “I hate the pride of the people of Israel; I despise their luxurious mansions. I will give their capital city and everything in it to the enemy.”

₉If there are ten men left in a family, they will die. ₁₀The dead man's relative, the one in charge of the funeral, will take the body out of the house. The relative will call to whoever is still left in the house, “Is anyone else there with you?”

A voice will answer, “No!”

Then the relative will say, “Be quiet! We must be careful not even to mention the LORD's name.”

₁₁When the LORD gives the command, houses large and small will be smashed to pieces. ₁₂Do horses gallop on rocks? Does anyone plough the sea with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into poison, and right into wrong.

₁₃You boast about capturing the town of Lodebar. You boast, “We were strong enough to take Karnaim.”

₁₄The LORD God Almighty himself says, “People of Israel, I am going to send a foreign army to occupy your country. It will oppress you from Hamath Pass in the north to the brook of the Arabah in the south.”