The evils that shall fall upon Israel for their sins.
3:1. Hear the word that the Lord hath spoken concerning you, O ye
children of Israel: concerning the whole family that I brought up out
of the land of Egypt, saying:
3:2. You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore
will I visit upon you all your iniquities.
Visit upon.... That is, punish.
3:3. Shall two walk together except they be agreed?
3:4. Will a lion roar in the forest, if he have no prey? will the
lion’s whelp cry out of his den, if he have taken nothing?
3:5. Will the bird fall into the snare upon the earth, if there be no
fowler? Shall the snare be taken up from the earth, before it hath
taken somewhat?
3:6. Shall the trumpet sound in a city, and the people not be afraid?
Shall there be evil in a city, which the Lord hath not done?
Evil in a city.... He speaks of the evil of punishments of war, famine,
pestilence, desolation, etc., but not of the evil of sin, of which God
is not the author.
3:7. For the Lord God doth nothing without revealing his secret to his
servants the prophets.
3:8. The lion shall roar, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken,
who shall not prophesy?
3:9. Publish it in the houses of Azotus, and in the houses of the land
of Egypt, and say: Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria,
and behold the many follies in the midst thereof, and them that suffer
oppression in the inner rooms thereof.
3:10. And they have not known to do the right thing, saith the Lord,
storing up iniquity, and robberies in their houses.
3:11. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: The land shall be in
tribulation, and shall be compassed about: and thy strength shall be
taken away from thee, and thy houses shall be spoiled.
3:12. Thus saith the Lord: As if a shepherd should get out of the
lion’s mouth two legs, or the tip of the ear: so shall the children of
Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria, in a place of a bed, and in
the couch of Damascus.
3:13. Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord the
God of hosts:
3:14. That in the day when I shall begin to visit the transgressions of
Israel, I will visit upon him, and upon the altars of Bethel: and the
horns of the altars shall be cut off, and shall fall to the ground.
3:15. And I will strike the winter house with the summer house: and the
houses of ivory shall perish, and many houses shall be destroyed, saith
the Lord.