Punishment Brings No Repentance 1 UST Listen to this message, you{ wealthy} women of{ the city of} Samaria! You have indulged yourselves and grown fat, just as the cattle in{ the region of} Bashan grow fat. You oppress poor people, and you cause needy people to suffer. Then you say to your husbands,“Bring us{ more wine} to drink!” BSB BSB: Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy, who say to your husbands, “Bring us more to drink.”
2 UST { But} Yahweh our Lord says,“Because I am holy, I solemnly promise this: Indeed the time is coming when your enemies will capture you and take you away,{ as easily} as someone catches fish with hooks. They will do this to every last one of you. BSB BSB: The Lord GOD has sworn by His holiness: “Behold, the days are coming when you will be taken away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks.
3 UST The enemies will break through your city walls, and then each of you women will go straight out through the gap in front of her. Each of you will flee toward Harmon. I, Yahweh, declare that this will happen. BSB BSB: You will go out through broken walls, each one straight ahead of her, and you will be cast out toward Harmon,” declares the LORD.
4 UST { You act like I am telling you this:} Go to{ the town of} Bethel and sin! Go to{ the town of} Gilgal and sin even more! Bring your animal sacrifices{ to the altars there} every morning, and bring a tenth of your crops every third day! BSB BSB: “Go to Bethel and transgress; rebel even more at Gilgal! Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three days.
5 UST Burn bread that contains yeast as an offering to thank me, and announce the offerings that you bring willingly! Make sure to loudly brag{ about them}! I say these things because that is what you Israelite people love to do. I, Yahweh your Lord, declare this. BSB BSB: Offer leavened bread as a thank offering, and loudly proclaim your freewill offerings. For that is what you children of Israel love to do,” declares the Lord GOD.
7 UST I am also the one who kept you from getting rain when there were still three months before{ your crops were ready to} harvest.{ Sometimes} I sent rain on one town and held it back from another town. I made it rain on some fields, but I gave no rain to other fields, so the crops there dried up. BSB BSB: “I also withheld the rain from you when the harvest was three months away. I sent rain on one city but withheld it from another. One field received rain; another without rain withered.
8 UST People from towns without water would stagger to a town that did have water, but they could not get enough water to drink. But even so you did not stop sinning and become loyal to me again. I, Yahweh, declare this. BSB BSB: People staggered from city to city for water to drink, but they were not satisfied; yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.
9 UST I made your crops dry up and have disease. Locusts ate up everything in your many gardens and vineyards and on your fig trees and olive trees, yet you did not stop sinning and become loyal to me again. I, Yahweh, declare this. BSB BSB: “I struck you with blight and mildew in your growing gardens and vineyards; the locust devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.
10 UST I made many of you become diseased, just as I had done to{ the people of} Egypt{ long ago}. I caused your enemies to kill your young men in wars, and I let your enemies capture your horses. I made you smell the stench{ of their corpses} in the camps{ where they died}, yet you did not stop sinning and become loyal to me again. I, Yahweh, declare this. BSB BSB: “I sent plagues among you like those of Egypt; I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.
11 UST I destroyed some of you, just as I destroyed{ the cities of} Sodom and Gomorrah{ long ago}.{ Those of} you{ who survived} were like a burning stick that someone grabs out of a fire{ before it burns up completely}, yet you did not stop sinning and become loyal to me again. I, Yahweh, declare this. BSB BSB: “Some of you I overthrew as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were like a firebrand snatched from a blaze, yet you did not return to Me,” declares the LORD.
12 UST Because of that, you people of Israel, this is what I am going to do to you. And because I am going to do this to you, prepare to{ truly} meet me, your God, people of Israel!” BSB BSB: “Therefore, that is what I will do to you, O Israel, and since I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel!
13 UST Prepare yourselves, because this is who he is: he is the one who formed the mountains and who creates the wind. He reveals to people what they are thinking. He makes the morning light and the darkness. Even the highest mountains are small things to him. He is Yahweh, God who commands the heavenly armies; that is his name! BSB BSB: For behold, He who forms the mountains, who creates the wind and reveals His thoughts to man, who turns the dawn to darkness and strides on the heights of the earth—the LORD, the God of Hosts, is His name.”