“‘See, I strike my hands together ¹  at the dishonest profit you have made, and at the bloodshed ²  they have done among you.

The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy; they have oppressed the foreigner who lives among them and denied them justice. ¹ 

Because you push with your side and your shoulder, and thrust your horns at all the weak sheep until you scatter them abroad, ¹ 

You will advance; ¹  you will come like a storm. You will be like a cloud covering the earth, you, all your troops, and the many other peoples with you.

and come from your place, from the remote parts of the north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a vast army.

I will judge him with plague and bloodshed. I will rain down on him, his troops and the many peoples who are with him a torrential downpour, hailstones, fire, and brimstone.

You will fall dead on the mountains of Israel, you and all your troops and the people who are with you. I give you as food to every kind of bird and every wild beast.

In the third ¹  year of the reign of King Jehoiakim of Judah, King Nebuchadnezzar ²  of Babylon advanced against Jerusalem ³  and laid it under siege. ⁴ 

Now let the king issue a written interdict ¹  so that it cannot be altered, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be changed. ² 

Then those men came by collusion to the king and ¹  said to him, ²  “Recall, ³  O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no edict or decree that the king issues can be changed.”

It came to the two-horned ram that I had seen standing beside the canal and rushed against it with raging strength. ¹ 

“Then the king of the south ¹  will be enraged and will march out to fight against the king of the north, who will also muster a large army, but that army will be delivered into his hand.

whenever I want to heal Israel, the sin of Ephraim is revealed, and the evil deeds of Samaria are exposed. For they do what is wrong; thieves break into houses, and gangs rob people out in the streets.

Each of you will go straight through the gaps in the walls; ¹  you will be thrown out ²  toward Harmon.” ³  The Lord is speaking!

They confiscate the fields they desire, and seize the houses they want. ¹  They defraud people of their homes, ²  and deprive people of the land they have inherited. ³ 

But you are the ones who will be forced to leave! ¹  For this land is not secure! ²  Sin will thoroughly destroy it! ³ 

The one who can break through barriers will lead them out ¹  they will break out, pass through the gate, and leave. ²  Their king will advance ³  before them, The Lord himself will lead them. ⁴ 

All of them intend ¹  to do violence; every face is determined. ²  They take prisoners as easily as one scoops up sand. ³ 

But I say to you, do not resist the evildoer. ¹  But whoever strikes you on the ²  right cheek, turn the other to him as well.

“Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth ¹  and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.