1  “Hear this word, you cows ^tof Bashan,

who are on the ^umountain of Samaria,

who oppress the ^vpoor, who crush the needy,

who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’

2  The Lord God has sworn ^wby his holiness

that, behold, the days are coming upon you,

when they shall take you away with hooks,

even the last of you with ^xfishhooks.

3  And you shall go out through the breaches,

each one straight ahead;

and you shall be cast out into Harmon,”

declares the Lord.

4  “Come to ^yBethel, and transgress;

to Gilgal, and multiply transgression;

bring your sacrifices every morning,

your tithes every three days;

5  offer a ^zsacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened,

and proclaim freewill offerings, publish them;

for so you love to do, O people of Israel!”

declares the Lord God.

6  “I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,

and lack of bread in all your places,

yet you did not ^areturn to me,”

declares the Lord.

7  “I also ^bwithheld the rain from you

when there were yet three months to the harvest;

I would send rain on one city,

and send no rain on another city;

one field would have rain,

and the field on which it did not rain would wither;

8  so two or three cities would wander to another city

to drink water, ^cand would not be satisfied;

yet you did not return to me,”

declares the Lord.

9  “I struck you with ^dblight and mildew;

your many gardens and your vineyards,

your fig trees and your olive trees the ^elocust devoured;

yet you did not return to me,”

declares the Lord.

10  “I sent among you a pestilence ^fafter the manner of Egypt;

^gI killed your young men with the sword,

and carried away your horses,¹

and I made the stench of your camp go up into your nostrils;

yet you did not return to me,”

declares the Lord.

11  “I overthrew some of you,

^has when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah,

and you were as a brand² plucked out of the burning;

yet you did not return to me,”

declares the Lord.

12  “Therefore thus I will do to you, O Israel;

because I will do this to you,

prepare to meet your God, O Israel!”

13  For behold, he who forms the mountains and creates the wind,

and declares to man what is his thought,

who ⁱmakes the morning darkness,

and ^jtreads on the heights of the earth—

^kthe Lord, the God of hosts, is his name!