I looked at the mountains and saw that they were shaking. All the hills were swaying back and forth!

I looked and saw that there were no more people, ¹  and that all the birds in the sky had flown away.

“I looked at the land and saw ¹  that it was an empty wasteland. ²  I looked up at the sky, and its light had vanished.

I looked and saw that the fruitful land had become a desert and that all of the cities had been laid in ruins. The Lord had brought this all about because of his blazing anger. ¹ 

The Lord says, ¹  “I saw the prophets of Samaria ²  doing something that was disgusting. ³  They prophesied in the name of the god Baal and led my people Israel astray. ⁴ 

Do you think this temple I have claimed as my own ¹  is to be a hideout for robbers? ²  You had better take note! ³  I have seen for myself what you have done! says the Lord.

People of Jerusalem, ¹  I have seen your adulterous worship, your shameless prostitution to, and your lustful pursuit of, other gods. ²  I have seen your disgusting acts of worship ³  on the hills throughout the countryside. You are doomed to destruction! ⁴  How long will you continue to be unclean?’”

Ask yourselves this and consider it carefully: ¹  Have you ever seen a man give birth to a baby? Why then do I see all these strong men grabbing their stomachs in pain like ²  a woman giving birth? And why do their faces turn so deathly pale?

What do I see?” ¹  says the Lord. ²  “The soldiers ³  are terrified. They are retreating. They have been defeated. They are overcome with terror; ⁴  they desert quickly without looking back.

But I see the prophets of Jerusalem ¹  doing something just as shocking. They are unfaithful to me and continually prophesy lies. ²  So they give encouragement to people who are doing evil, with the result that they do not stop their evildoing. ³  I consider all of them as bad as the people of Sodom, and the citizens of Jerusalem as bad as the people of Gomorrah. ⁴