The Lord brought Israel out of Egypt by a prophet, and due to a prophet Israel was preserved alive.

A sword will flash in their cities, it will destroy the bars of their city gates, and will devour them in their fortresses.

The princes of Judah are like those who move boundary markers. I will pour out my rage on them like a torrential flood!

I have appointed a time to reap judgment for you also, O Judah!Whenever I want to restore the fortunes of my people,

Jacob fled to the country of Aram, then Israel worked to acquire a wife; he tended sheep to pay for her.

The high places of the “House of Wickedness” will be destroyed; it is the place where Israel sins. Thorns and thistles will grow up over its altars. Then they will say to the mountains, “Cover us!” and to the hills, “Fall on us!”

Even now they persist in sin! They make metal images for themselves, idols that they skillfully fashion from their own silver; all of them are nothing but the work of craftsmen! There is a saying about them: “Those who sacrifice to the calf idol are calf kissers!”

That idol was made by a workman – it is not God! The calf idol of Samaria will be broken to bits.

They have sunk deep into corruption as in the days of Gibeah. He will remember their wrongdoing. He will repay them for their sins.

Sound the alarm! An eagle looms over the temple of the Lord! For they have broken their covenant with me, and have rebelled against my law.

“At that time I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals, the birds of the air, and the creatures that crawl on the ground. I will abolish the warrior’s bow and sword – that is, every weapon of warfare – from the land, and I will allow them to live securely.”

But you have plowed wickedness; you have reaped injustice; you have eaten the fruit of deception. Because you have depended on your chariots; you have relied on your many warriors.

Israel will be swallowed up among the nations; they will be like a worthless piece of pottery.

Their wicked deeds do not allow them to return to their God; because a spirit of idolatry controls their heart, and they do not acknowledge the Lord.

But I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt. Therefore, you must not acknowledge any God but me; except me there is no Savior.

They will not pour out drink offerings of wine to the Lord; they will not please him with their sacrifices. Their sacrifices will be like bread eaten while in mourning; all those who eat them will make themselves ritually unclean. For their bread will be only to satisfy their appetite; it will not come into the temple of the Lord.

They turn to Baal; they are like an unreliable bow. Their leaders will fall by the sword because their prayers to Baal have made me angry. So people will disdain them in the land of Egypt.

They utter empty words, taking false oaths and making empty agreements. Therefore legal disputes sprout up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a plowed field.

Even though they have hired lovers among the nations, I will soon gather them together for judgment. Then they will begin to waste away under the oppression of a mighty king.

I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like a lily, he will send down his roots like a cedar of Lebanon.