4:1 Hear this word, you cows of Bashan on Mount Samaria, you women who oppress the poor and crush the needy and say to your husbands, “Bring us some drinks!”
4:2 The Sovereign LORD has sworn by his holiness: “The time will surely come when you will be taken away with hooks, the last of you with fishhooks.
4:3 You will each go straight out through breaks in the wall, and you will be cast out toward Harmon,” declares the LORD.
4:4 “Go to Bethel and sin; go to Gilgal and sin yet more. Bring your sacrifices every morning, your tithes every three years.
4:5 Burn leavened bread as a thank offering and brag about your freewill offerings–boast about them, you Israelites, for this is what you love to do,” declares the Sovereign LORD.
4:6 “I gave you empty stomachs in every city and lack of bread in every town, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD.
4:7 “I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another. One field had rain; another had none and dried up.
4:8 People staggered from town to town for water but did not get enough to drink, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD.
4:9 “Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, I struck them with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD.
4:10 “I sent plagues among you as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD.
4:11 “I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to me,” declares the LORD.
4:12 “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel, and because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, O Israel.”
4:13 He who forms the mountains, creates the wind, and reveals his thoughts to man, he who turns dawn to darkness, and treads the high places of the earth–the LORD God Almighty is his name.
4:1 Hear this word, / O heifers of Bashan, which are on the mountain of Samaria, / Who oppress the poor / And crush the needy, / Who say to their lords, / Bring, and let us drink.
4:2 The Lord Jehovah has sworn by His holiness / Indeed days are coming upon you / When one will take you away with hooks, / And your posterity, with fish hooks.
4:3 And you will go out through the breaches, each one straight ahead of her; / And you will cast yourselves into Harmon, declares Jehovah.
4:4 Come to Bethel, and transgress; / To Gilgal, and multiply transgression; / And bring your sacrifices every morning / And your tithes every three days,
4:5 And offer in smoke a thank offering out of what is leavened; / And proclaim freewill offerings; make them known; / For you love them, O children of Israel, / Declares the Lord Jehovah.
4:6 And I also have given you / Cleanness of teeth in all your cities / And want of bread in all your places. / Yet you have not returned to Me, / Declares Jehovah.
4:7 And I have also withheld the rain from you / When there was yet three months until the harvest; And I made it rain on one city, / But on another city I did not make it rain; / One portion was rained on, / And the portion that was not rained on dried up.
4:8 And two or three cities wandered to one city to drink water, / But they were not satisfied. / Yet you have not returned to Me, / Declares Jehovah.
4:9 I have stricken you with blight and mildew; / The multitudes of your gardens and your vineyards, / And your fig trees and your olive trees, the cutting locust has devoured. / Yet you have not returned to Me, / Declares Jehovah.
4:10 I have sent among you pestilence after the manner of Egypt; / I have slain your choice young men with the sword, taking your horses / captive; / And I have caused the stench of your camp to go up even into your own / nostrils. / Yet you have not returned to Me, / Declares Jehovah.
4:11 I have overturned cities among you, / As when God overturned Sodom and Gomorrah; / And you were like a brand plucked out of the burning. / Yet you have not returned to Me, / Declares Jehovah.
4:12 Therefore this is what I will do to you, O Israel; / And because I will do this to you, / Prepare to meet your God, O Israel.
4:13 For it is He who forms the mountains and creates the wind / And declares to man what His thought is; / He who makes the morning darkness / And treads upon the high places of the earth ? / Jehovah the God of hosts is His name!