¹ Sorrow to those who are resting in comfort in Zion, and to those who have no fear of danger in the mountain of Samaria, the noted men of the chief of the nations, to whom the people of Israel come!

² Go on to Calneh and see; and from there Go to Hamath the great; then go down to Gath of the Philistines: are you better than these kingdoms? or is your land wider than theirs?

³ You who put far away the evil day, causing the rule of the violent to come near;

⁴ Who are resting on beds of ivory, stretched out on soft seats, feasting on lambs from the flock and young oxen from the cattle-house;

⁵ Making foolish songs to the sound of corded instruments, and designing for themselves instruments of music, like David;

⁶ Drinking wine in basins, rubbing themselves with the best oils; but they have no grief for the destruction of Joseph.

⁷ So now they will go away prisoners with the first of those who are made prisoners, and the loud cry of those who were stretched out will come to an end.

⁸ The Lord God has taken an oath by himself, says The Lord, the God of armies: the pride of Jacob is disgusting to me, and I have hate for his great houses: so I will give up the town with everything in it.

⁹ Then it will come about that if there are still ten men in a house, death will overtake them.

¹⁰ And when a man's relation, even the one who is responsible for burning his body, lifting him up to take his bones out of the house, says to him who is in the inmost part of the house, Is there still anyone with you? and he says, No; then he will say, Keep quiet, for the name of the Lord may not be named.

¹¹ For see, at the order of the Lord the great house will be full of cracks and the little house will be broken.

¹² Is it possible for horses to go running on the rock? may the sea be ploughed with oxen? for the right to be turned by you into poison, and the fruit of righteousness into a bitter plant?

¹³ You whose joy is in a thing of no value, who say, Have we not taken for ourselves horns by the strength which is ours?

¹⁴ For see, I will send against you a nation, O Israel, says the Lord, the God of armies, ruling you cruelly from the way into Hamath as far as the stream of the Arabah.

⁴ Behold, the Lord will dispossess her, and he will strike her power in the sea; and she will be devoured with fire.

⁵ Ashkelon will see it, and fear; Gaza also, and will writhe in agony; as will Ekron, for her expectation will be disappointed; and the king will perish from Gaza, and Ashkelon will not be inhabited.

⁶ Foreigners will dwell in Ashdod, and I will cut off the pride of the Philistines.

⁷ I will take away his blood out of his mouth, and his abominations from between his teeth; and he also will be a remnant for our God; and he will be as a chieftain in Judah, and Ekron as a Jebusite.

⁸ I will encamp around my house against the army, that none pass through or return; and no oppressor will pass through them any more: for now I have seen with my eyes.

⁹ Rejoice greatly, daughter of Zion! Shout, daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King comes to you! He is righteous, and having salvation; lowly, and riding on a donkey, even on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

¹⁰ I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow will be cut off; and he will speak peace to the nations: and his dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.

¹¹ As for you also, because of the blood of your covenant, I have set free your prisoners from the pit in which is no water.