I will send famine and wild beasts against you and they will take your children from you. ¹  Plague and bloodshed will overwhelm you, ²  and I will bring a sword against you. I, the Lord, have spoken!”

While I listened, he said to the others, ¹  “Go through the city after him and strike people down; do no let your eye pity nor spare ²  anyone!

“Or suppose I were to bring a sword against that land and say, ‘Let a sword pass through the land,’ and I were to kill both people and animals.

“‘I passed by you and saw you kicking around helplessly in your blood. I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!” I said to you as you lay there in your blood, “Live!” ¹ 

“‘But you trusted in your beauty and capitalized on your fame by becoming a prostitute. You offered your sexual favors to every man who passed by so that your beauty ¹  became his.

At the head of every street you erected your pavilion and you disgraced ¹  your beauty when you spread ²  your legs to every passerby and multiplied your promiscuity.

I declared them to be defiled because of their sacrifices ¹  – they caused all their first born to pass through the fire ²  – so that I would devastate them, so that they will know that I am the Lord.’ ³ 

For they have committed adultery and blood is on their hands. They have committed adultery with their idols, and their sons, whom they bore to me, ¹  they have passed through the fire as food to their idols. ² 

I will turn the land into a desolate ruin; her confident pride will come to an end. The mountains of Israel will be so desolate no one will pass through them.

He made me walk all around among them. ¹  I realized ²  there were a great many bones in the valley and they were very dry.

Then he brought me out to the outer court and led me past the four corners of the court, and I noticed ¹  that in every corner of the court there was a court.

His sons ¹  will wage war, mustering a large army which will advance like an overflowing river and carrying the battle all the way to the enemy’s ²  fortress. ³ 

There will arise after him ¹  one ²  who will send out an exactor ³  of tribute to enhance the splendor of the kingdom, but after a few days he will be destroyed, ⁴  though not in anger or battle.

“At the time of the end the king of the south will attack ¹  him. Then the king of the north will storm against him ²  with chariots, horsemen, and a large armada of ships. ³  He ⁴  will invade lands, passing through them like an overflowing river. ⁵ 

Sound the alarm! ¹  An eagle ²  looms over the temple of the Lord! For they have broken their covenant with me, ³  and have rebelled against my law.

Ephraim was a well-trained heifer who loved to thresh grain; I myself put a fine yoke ¹ on her neck. I will harness Ephraim. Let Judah plow! ²  Let Jacob break up ³  the unplowed ground for himself!

You will be convinced ¹  that I the Lord am your God, dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem ²  will be holy – conquering armies ³  will no longer pass through it.

They say to the people: ¹  “Journey over to Calneh and look at it! Then go from there to Hamath-Rabbah! ²  Then go down to Gath of the Philistines! Are they superior to our two ³  kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours?” ⁴ 

You say, “When will the new moon festival ¹  be over, ²  so we can sell grain? When will the Sabbath end, ³  so we can open up the grain bins? ⁴  We’re eager ⁵  to sell less for a higher price, ⁶  and to cheat the buyer with rigged scales! ⁷ 

When the news ¹  reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, put on sackcloth, and sat on ashes.