6
Thus says the LORD:
"For three transgressions of j Israel, and for four,
I will not turn away its punishment,
Because k they sell the righteous for silver,
And the l poor for a pair of sandals.
7
They 1 pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor,
And m pervert the way of the humble.
n A man and his father go in to the same girl,
o To defile My holy name.
8
They lie down p by every altar on clothes q taken in pledge,
And drink the wine of 2 the condemned in the house of their god.
9
"Yet it was I who destroyed the r Amorite before them,
Whose height was like the s height of the cedars,
And he was as strong as the oaks;
Yet I t destroyed his fruit above
And his roots beneath.
10
Also it was u I who brought you up from the land of Egypt,
And v led you forty years through the wilderness,
To possess the land of the Amorite.
11
I raised up some of your sons as w prophets,
And some of your young men as x Nazirites.
Is it not so, O you children of Israel?"
Says the LORD.
12
"But you gave the Nazirites wine to drink,
And commanded the prophets y saying,
'Do not prophesy!'
13
"Behold, z I am 3 weighed down by you,
As a cart full of sheaves 4 is weighed down.
14
a Therefore 5 flight shall perish from the swift,
The strong shall not strengthen his power,
b Nor shall the mighty 6 deliver himself;
15
He shall not stand who handles the bow,
The swift of foot shall not 7 escape,
Nor shall he who rides a horse deliver himself.
16
The most 8 courageous men of might
Shall flee naked in that day,"
Says the LORD.