I will break down the gate of Damascus; I will destroy the king who is in the Valley of Aven and the one who holds the scepter in Beth Eden. The people of Aram will go into exile to Kir,” says the Lord.

I will destroy the king of Ashdod and the one who holds the scepter in Ashkelon. I will turn my hand against Ekron, till the last of the Philistines are dead,” says the Sovereign Lord.

I will destroy her ruler and kill all her officials with him,” says the Lord.

This is what the Lord says: “For three sins of Judah, even for four, I will not relent. Because they have rejected the law of the Lord and have not kept his decrees, because they have been led astray by false gods, the gods their ancestors followed,

They trample on the heads of the poor as on the dust of the ground and deny justice to the oppressed. Father and son use the same girl and so profane my holy name.

“Yet I destroyed the Amorites before them, though they were tall as the cedars and strong as the oaks. I destroyed their fruit above and their roots below.

I brought you up out of Egypt and led you forty years in the wilderness to give you the land of the Amorites.

“I also raised up prophets from among your children and Nazirites from among your youths. Is this not true, people of Israel?” declares the Lord.

Even the bravest warriors will flee naked on that day,” declares the Lord.

Does a lion roar in the thicket when it has no prey? Does it growl in its den when it has caught nothing?

“They do not know how to do right,” declares the Lord, “who store up in their fortresses what they have plundered and looted.”

This is what the Lord says: “As a shepherd rescues from the lion’s mouth only two leg bones or a piece of an ear, so will the Israelites living in Samaria be rescued, with only the head of a bed and a piece of fabric from a couch.”

“Hear this and testify against the descendants of Jacob,” declares the Lord, the Lord God Almighty.

“On the day I punish Israel for her sins, I will destroy the altars of Bethel; the horns of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.

I will tear down the winter house along with the summer house; the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed and the mansions will be demolished,” declares the Lord.

You will each go straight out through breaches in the wall, and you will be cast out toward Harmon,” declares the Lord.

Burn leavened bread as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings— boast about them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do,” declares the Sovereign Lord.

“I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.

People staggered from town to town for water but did not get enough to drink, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.

“Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, destroying them with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.

“I sent plagues among you as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.

“I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the Lord.

“Fallen is Virgin Israel, never to rise again, deserted in her own land, with no one to lift her up.”

This is what the Sovereign Lord says to Israel: “Your city that marches out a thousand strong will have only a hundred left; your town that marches out a hundred strong will have only ten left.”

Seek the Lord and live, or he will sweep through the tribes of Joseph like a fire; it will devour them, and Bethel will have no one to quench it.