I made some of your sons prophets and some of your young men Nazirites. ¹  Is this not true, you Israelites?” The Lord is speaking!

Listen, you Israelites, to this message which the Lord is proclaiming against ¹  you! This message is for the entire clan I brought up ²  from the land of Egypt:

Burn a thank offering of bread made with yeast! ¹  Make a public display of your voluntary offerings! ²  For you love to do this, you Israelites.” The sovereign Lord is speaking!

This is what the Lord says: “Because the Ammonites have committed three crimes ¹  – make that four! ²  – I will not revoke my decree of judgment. ³  They ripped open Gilead’s pregnant women ⁴  so they could expand their territory.

This is what the Lord says: “Just as a shepherd salvages from the lion’s mouth a couple of leg bones or a piece of an ear, so the Israelites who live in Samaria will be salvaged. ¹  They will be left with just a corner of a bed, ²  and a part ³  of a couch.”

“You Israelites are just like the Ethiopians in my sight,” ¹  says the Lord. “Certainly I brought Israel up from the land of Egypt, but I also brought the Philistines from Caphtor ²  and the Arameans from Kir. ³