Read the Bible

¹ People of Israel,
    I rescued you from Egypt.
Now listen to my judgment
    against you.
² Of all nations on earth,
you are the only one
    I have chosen.
That's why I will punish you
    because of your sins.

³ Can two people walk together
    without agreeing to meet?
⁴ Does a lion roar in the forest
unless it has caught
    a victim?
Does it growl in its den
    unless it is eating?
⁵ How can anyone catch a bird
    without using a net?
Does a trap spring shut
    unless something is caught?

⁶ Isn't the whole city frightened
when the trumpet
    signals an attack?
Isn't it the Lord who brings
    disaster on a city?
⁷ Whatever the Lord God
    plans to do,
he tells his servants,
    the prophets.
⁸ Everyone is terrified
    when a lion roars—
and ordinary people
become prophets
    when the Lord God speaks.

⁹ Here is a message
for the leaders
    of Philistia^[a] and Egypt—
tell everyone to come together
    on the hills of Samaria.
Let them see the injustice
and the lawlessness
    in that city.
¹⁰ The Lord has said
that they don't even know how
    to do right.
They have become rich
    from violence and robbery.
¹¹ And so the Lord God has sworn
    that they will be surrounded.
Enemies will break through
their defenses
    and steal their treasures.

¹² The Lord has promised
that only a few from Samaria
    will escape with their lives
and with some broken pieces
    of their beds and couches.^[b]
It will be like when a shepherd
    rescues two leg bones
and part of a sheep's ear
    from the jaws of a lion.^[c]

¹³ The Lord God All-Powerful
told me to speak this message
    against Jacob's descendants:
¹⁴ When I, the Lord, punish Israel
    for their sins,
I will destroy the altars
    at Bethel.
Even the corners of the altar^[d]
    will be left in the dirt.
¹⁵ I will tear down winter homes
    and summer homes.
Houses decorated with ivory
and all other mansions
    will be gone forever.
I, the Lord, have spoken!