Therefore, I will certainly cut ¹  you into pieces at the hands of the prophets; ²  I will certainly kill you ³  in fulfillment of my oracles of judgment; ⁴  for ⁵  my judgment ⁶  will come forth like the light of the dawn. ⁷ 

The company of priests is like a gang of robbers, lying in ambush to pounce on a victim. They commit murder on the road to Shechem; they have done heinous crimes!

They approach him, all the while plotting against him. Their hearts are like an oven; their anger smolders all night long, but in the morning it bursts into a flaming fire.

I will throw my bird net over them while they are flying, I will bring them down like birds in the sky; I will discipline them when I hear them flocking together.

They turn to Baal; ¹  they are like an unreliable bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword because their prayers to Baal ²  have made me angry. So people will disdain them in the land of Egypt. ³ 

O Israel, do not rejoice jubilantly ¹  like the nations, for you are unfaithful ²  to your God. You love to receive a prostitute's wages ³  on all the floors where you thresh your grain.

Is there idolatry ¹  in Gilead? ²  Certainly its inhabitants ³  will come to nothing! ⁴  Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal? Surely their altars will be like stones heaped up on a plowed field!

O Ephraim, I do not want to have anything to do ¹  with idols anymore! I will answer him and care for him. I am like ²  a luxuriant cypress tree; ³  your fruitfulness comes from me! ⁴ 

Listen to this, you elders; ¹  pay attention, ²  all inhabitants of the land. Has anything like this ever happened in your whole life ³  or in the lifetime ⁴  of your ancestors? ⁵ 

This is what the Lord says: “Because Damascus has committed three crimes ¹  – make that four! ²  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ³  They ripped through Gilead like threshing sledges with iron teeth. ⁴ 

“I overthrew some of you the way God ¹  overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. ²  You were like a burning stick ³  snatched from the flames. Still you did not come back to me.” The Lord is speaking!

Seek the Lord so you can live! Otherwise he will break out ¹  like fire against Joseph’s ²  family; ³  the fire ⁴  will consume and no one will be able to quench it and save Bethel. ⁵ 

“You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,” ¹  says the Lord. “Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor ²  and the Arameans from Kir. ³ 

“In that day I will rebuild the collapsing hut ¹  of David. I will seal its ²  gaps, repair its ³  ruins, and restore it to what it was like in days gone by. ⁴ 

Even if you were to soar high like an eagle, ¹  even if you ²  were to make your nest among the stars, I can bring you down even from there!” says the Lord.

Therefore the Lord says this: “Look, I am devising disaster for this nation! ¹  It will be like a yoke from which you cannot free your neck. ²  You will no longer ³  walk proudly, for it will be a time of catastrophe.

Therefore, because of you, ¹  Zion will be plowed up like ²  a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the Temple Mount ³  will become a hill overgrown with brush! ⁴ 

But they do not know what the Lord is planning; they do not understand his strategy. He has gathered them like stalks of grain to be threshed ¹  at the threshing floor.

When my enemies see this, they will be covered with shame. They say ¹  to me, “Where is the Lord your God?” I will gloat over them. ²  Then they will be trampled down ³  like mud in the streets.

There is no other God like you! ¹  You ²  forgive sin and pardon ³  the rebellion of those who remain among your people. ⁴  You do not remain angry forever, ⁵  but delight in showing loyal love.