1
Hear this word , ye heifers of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria , which oppress the poor , which crush the needy , which say to their masters , Bring , and let us drink .
2
The Lord GOD hath sworn by his holiness , that lo, the days shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fish-hooks,
3
And ye shall go out at the breaches , every cow at that which is before her; and ye shall cast them into the palace , saith the LORD .
4
Come to Beth-el and transgress; at Gilgal multiply transgression; and bring your sacrifices every morning , and your tithes after three years:
5
And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven , and proclaim and publish the free-offerings : for this pleaseth you, O ye children of Israel , saith the Lord GOD.
6
And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities , and want of bread in all your places : yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD .
7
And also I have withheld the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest : and I caused it to rain upon one city , and caused it not to rain upon another city : one piece was rained upon, and the piece on which it rained not withered .
8
So two or three cities wandered to one city , to drink water ; but they were not satisfied : yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD .
9
I have smitten you with blasting and mildew : when your gardens and your vineyards and your fig -trees and your olive -trees increased, the palmer-worm devoured them: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD .
10
I have sent among you the pestilence after the manner of Egypt : your young men have I slain with the sword , and have taken away your horses ; and I have made the ill savor of your camps to come up to your nostrils : yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD .
11
I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah , and ye were as a fire-brand plucked out of the burning: yet have ye not returned to me, saith the LORD .
12
Therefore thus will I do to thee, O Israel : and because I will do this to thee, prepare to meet thy God , O Israel .
13
For lo, he that formeth the mountains , and createth the wind , and declareth to man what is his thought, that maketh the morning darkness, and treadeth upon the high places of the earth , The LORD , The God of hosts, is his name .