Listen to this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, who oppress the poor, who crush the needy, who tell their lords, “Bring, and let us drink.“
2The Lord Allah has sworn by his holiness that behold,
“The days shall come on you that they will take you away with hooks,
And the last of you with fish hooks.
3You will go out at the breaks in the wall,
Everyone straight before her;
And you will cast yourselves into Harmon,“ says Allah.
4“Go to Bethel, and sin;
To Gilgal, and sin more.
Bring your sacrifices every morning,
Your tithes every three days,
5Offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened,
And proclaim free will offerings and brag about them:
For this pleases you, you children of Israel,“ says the Lord Allah.
6“I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,
And lack of bread in every town;
Yet you have not returned to me,“ says Allah.
7“I also have withheld the rain from you,
When there were yet three months to the harvest;
And I caused it to rain on one city,
And caused it not to rain on another city.
One place was rained on,
And the piece where it did not rain withered.
8So two or three cities staggered to one city to drink water,
And were not satisfied:
Yet you have not returned to me,“ says Allah.
9I struck you with blight and mildew many times in your gardens and your vineyards;
And your fig trees and your olive trees have the swarming locust devoured:
Yet you have not returned to me,“ says Allah.
10I sent plagues among you like I did Egypt.
I have slain your young men with the sword,
And have carried away your horses;
And I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camp
Yet you have not returned to me,“ says Allah.
11“I have overthrown some of you,
As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,
And you were like a burning stick plucked out of the fire;
Yet you have not returned to me,“ says Allah.
12“Therefore thus will I do to you, Israel;
Because I will do this to you,
Prepare to meet your God, Israel.
13For, behold, he who forms the mountains,
And creates the wind,
And declares to man what is his thought;
Who makes the morning darkness,
And treads on the high places of the Earth:
Allah, the Lord God of the universe, is his name.“