“The Lord’s voice will roar from Zion
    and thunder from Jerusalem!
The lush pastures of the shepherds will dry up;
    the grass on Mount Carmel will wither and die.”

“The people of Damascus have sinned again and again,^[b]
    and I will not let them go unpunished!
They beat down my people in Gilead
    as grain is threshed with iron sledges.
⁴ So I will send down fire on King Hazael’s palace,
    and the fortresses of King Ben-hadad will be destroyed.
⁵ I will break down the gates of Damascus
    and slaughter the people in the valley of Aven.
I will destroy the ruler in Beth-eden,
    and the people of Aram will go as captives to Kir,”
    says the Lord.

“The people of Gaza have sinned again and again,
    and I will not let them go unpunished!
They sent whole villages into exile,
    selling them as slaves to Edom.
⁷ So I will send down fire on the walls of Gaza,
    and all its fortresses will be destroyed.
⁸ I will slaughter the people of Ashdod
    and destroy the king of Ashkelon.
Then I will turn to attack Ekron,
    and the few Philistines still left will be killed,”
    says the Sovereign Lord.

“The people of Tyre have sinned again and again,
    and I will not let them go unpunished!
They broke their treaty of brotherhood with Israel,
    selling whole villages as slaves to Edom.
¹⁰ So I will send down fire on the walls of Tyre,
    and all its fortresses will be destroyed.”

“The people of Edom have sinned again and again,
    and I will not let them go unpunished!
They chased down their relatives, the Israelites, with swords,
    showing them no mercy.
In their rage, they slashed them continually
    and were unrelenting in their anger.
¹² So I will send down fire on Teman,
    and the fortresses of Bozrah will be destroyed.”

“The people of Ammon have sinned again and again,
    and I will not let them go unpunished!
When they attacked Gilead to extend their borders,
    they ripped open pregnant women with their swords.
¹⁴ So I will send down fire on the walls of Rabbah,
    and all its fortresses will be destroyed.
The battle will come upon them with shouts,
    like a whirlwind in a mighty storm.
¹⁵ And their king^[c] and his princes will go into exile together,”
    says the Lord.

“The people of Moab have sinned again and again,^[d]
    and I will not let them go unpunished!
They desecrated the bones of Edom’s king,
    burning them to ashes.
² So I will send down fire on the land of Moab,
    and all the fortresses in Kerioth will be destroyed.
The people will fall in the noise of battle,
    as the warriors shout and the ram’s horn sounds.
³ And I will destroy their king
    and slaughter all their princes,”
    says the Lord.

“The people of Judah have sinned again and again,
    and I will not let them go unpunished!
They have rejected the instruction of the Lord,
    refusing to obey his decrees.
They have been led astray by the same lies
    that deceived their ancestors.
⁵ So I will send down fire on Judah,
    and all the fortresses of Jerusalem will be destroyed.”

“The people of Israel have sinned again and again,
    and I will not let them go unpunished!
They sell honorable people for silver
    and poor people for a pair of sandals.
⁷ They trample helpless people in the dust
    and shove the oppressed out of the way.
Both father and son sleep with the same woman,
    corrupting my holy name.
⁸ At their religious festivals,
    they lounge in clothing their debtors put up as security.
In the house of their gods,^[e]
    they drink wine bought with unjust fines.

⁹ “But as my people watched,
    I destroyed the Amorites,
though they were as tall as cedars
    and as strong as oaks.
I destroyed the fruit on their branches
    and dug out their roots.
¹⁰ It was I who rescued you from Egypt
    and led you through the desert for forty years,
    so you could possess the land of the Amorites.
¹¹ I chose some of your sons to be prophets
    and others to be Nazirites.
Can you deny this, my people of Israel?”
    asks the Lord.
¹² “But you caused the Nazirites to sin by making them drink wine,
    and you commanded the prophets, ‘Shut up!’

¹³ “So I will make you groan
    like a wagon loaded down with sheaves of grain.
¹⁴ Your fastest runners will not get away.
    The strongest among you will become weak.
Even mighty warriors will be unable to save themselves.
¹⁵     The archers will not stand their ground.
The swiftest runners won’t be fast enough to escape.
    Even those riding horses won’t be able to save themselves.
¹⁶ On that day the most courageous of your fighting men
    will drop their weapons and run for their lives,”
    says the Lord.

² “From among all the families on the earth,
    I have been intimate with you alone.
That is why I must punish you
    for all your sins.”

⁷ Indeed, the Sovereign Lord never does anything
    until he reveals his plans to his servants the prophets.

⁸ The lion has roared—
    so who isn’t frightened?
The Sovereign Lord has spoken—
    so who can refuse to proclaim his message?
⁹ Announce this to the leaders of Philistia^[f]
    and to the great ones of Egypt:
“Take your seats now on the hills around Samaria,
    and witness the chaos and oppression in Israel.”

¹⁰ “My people have forgotten how to do right,”
    says the Lord.
“Their fortresses are filled with wealth
    taken by theft and violence.
¹¹ Therefore,” says the Sovereign Lord,
    “an enemy is coming!
He will surround them and shatter their defenses.
    Then he will plunder all their fortresses.”

“A shepherd who tries to rescue a sheep from a lion’s mouth
    will recover only two legs or a piece of an ear.
So it will be for the Israelites in Samaria lying on luxurious beds,
    and for the people of Damascus reclining on couches.^[g]

¹⁴ “On the very day I punish Israel for its sins,
    I will destroy the pagan altars at Bethel.
The horns of the altar will be cut off
    and fall to the ground.
¹⁵ And I will destroy the beautiful homes of the wealthy—
    their winter mansions and their summer houses, too—
all their palaces filled with ivory,”
    says the Lord.