1:3 This is what the Lord says:
“Because Damascus has committed three crimes –
make that four! – I will not revoke my
decree of judgment.
They ripped through Gilead like threshing sledges with iron teeth.
1:6 This is what the Lord says:
“Because Gaza has committed three crimes –
make that four! – I will not revoke my decree of judgment.
They deported a whole community and sold them to Edom.
1:9 This is what the Lord says:
“Because Tyre has committed three crimes –
make that four! – I will not revoke my decree of judgment.
They sold a whole community to Edom;
they failed to observe a treaty of brotherhood.
1:13 This is what the Lord says:
“Because the Ammonites have committed three crimes –
make that four! – I will not revoke my decree of judgment.
They ripped open Gilead’s pregnant women
so they could expand their territory.
1:14 So I will set fire to Rabbah’s city wall;
fire will consume her fortresses.
War cries will be heard on the day of battle;
a strong gale will blow on the day of the windstorm.
2:1 This is what the Lord says:
“Because Moab has committed three crimes –
make that four! – I will not revoke my decree of judgment.
They burned the bones of Edom’s king into lime.
2:2 So I will set Moab on fire,
and it will consume Kerioth’s fortresses.
Moab will perish in the heat of battle
amid war cries and the blaring of the ram’s horn.
2:6 This is what the Lord says:
“Because Israel has committed three covenant transgressions –
make that four! – I will not revoke my decree of judgment.
They sold the innocent for silver,
the needy for a pair of sandals.
4:6 “But surely I gave you no food to eat in any of your cities;
you lacked food everywhere you live.
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking!
4:9 “I destroyed your crops with blight and disease.
Locusts kept devouring your orchards, vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees.
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking!
4:11 “I overthrew some of you the way God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
You were like a burning stick snatched from the flames.
Still you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking!
5:12 Certainly I am aware of your many rebellious acts
and your numerous sins.
You torment the innocent, you take bribes,
and you deny justice to the needy at the city gate.
6:14 “Look! I am about to bring a nation against you, family of Israel.”
The Lord, the God who commands armies, is speaking.
“They will oppress you all the way from Lebo-Hamath to the Stream of the Arabah.”
7:1 The sovereign Lord showed me this: I saw him making locusts just as the crops planted late were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest.)
8:11 Be certain of this, the time is coming,” says the sovereign Lord,
“when I will send a famine through the land –
not a shortage of food or water
but an end to divine revelation!
9:2 Even if they could dig down into the netherworld,
my hand would pull them up from there.
Even if they could climb up to heaven,
I would drag them down from there.
9:14 I will bring back my people, Israel;
they will rebuild the cities lying in rubble and settle down.
They will plant vineyards and drink the wine they produce;
they will grow orchards and eat the fruit they produce.