If the Lord who commands armies ¹  had not left us a few survivors, we would have quickly become like Sodom, ²  we would have become like Gomorrah.

Learn to do what is right! Promote justice! Give the oppressed reason to celebrate! ¹  Take up the cause of the orphan! Defend the rights of the widow! ² 

But if you refuse and rebel, you will be devoured ¹  by the sword.” Know for certain that the Lord has spoken. ² 

The powerful will be like ¹  a thread of yarn, their deeds like a spark; both will burn together, and no one will put out the fire.

Proud men will be brought low, arrogant men will be humiliated; ¹  the Lord alone will be exalted ²  in that day.

Oppressors treat my ¹  people cruelly; creditors rule over them. ²  My people’s leaders mislead them; they give you confusing directions. ³ 

Why do you crush my people and grind the faces of the poor?” ¹  The sovereign Lord who commands armies ²  has spoken.

They say, “Let him hurry, let him act quickly, ¹  so we can see; let the plan of the Holy One of Israel ²  take shape ³  and come to pass, then we will know it!”

They say, “Let’s attack Judah, terrorize it, and conquer it. ¹  Then we’ll set up the son of Tabeel as its king.” ² 

Devise your strategy, but it will be thwarted! Issue your orders, but they will not be executed! ¹  For God is with us! ² 

The people did not return to the one who struck them, they did not seek reconciliation ¹  with the Lord who commands armies.

As I have done to Samaria and its idols, so I will do to Jerusalem and its idols.” ¹ 

The sovereign master, the Lord who commands armies, is certainly ready to carry out the decreed destruction throughout the land. ¹ 

This very day, standing in Nob, they shake their fist at Daughter Zion’s mountain ¹  – at the hill of Jerusalem.

How will they respond to the messengers of this nation? ¹  Indeed, the Lord has made Zion secure; the oppressed among his people will find safety in her.

We have heard about Moab’s pride, their great arrogance, their boasting, pride, and excess. ¹  But their boastful claims are empty! ² 

The day you begin cultivating, you do what you can to make it grow; ¹  the morning you begin planting, you do what you can to make it sprout. Yet the harvest will disappear ²  in the day of disease and incurable pain.

In the evening there is sudden terror; ¹  by morning they vanish. ²  This is the fate of those who try to plunder us, the destiny of those who try to loot us! ³ 

All you who live in the world, who reside on the earth, you will see a signal flag raised on the mountains; you will hear a trumpet being blown.

Egypt will not be able to do a thing, head or tail, shoots and stalk. ¹