The fortress shall cease from Efrayim, and the kingdom from Damascus, and the remnant of Syria. They will be as the glory of the children of Yisra'el,* says the LORD of Armies.
The king of Ashur listened to him; and the king of Ashur went up against Damascus, and took it, and carried [the people of] it captive to Kir, and killed Retzin.
In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Ashur took Shomron, and carried Yisra'el away to Ashur, and placed them in Chalach, and on the Chavor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Madai.
But now the LORD has spoken, saying, *Within three years, as a worker bound by contract would count them, the glory of Mo'av shall be brought into contempt, with all his great multitude; and the remnant will be very small and feeble.*
For the head of Syria is Damascus, and the head of Damascus is Retzin; and within sixty-five years Efrayim shall be broken in pieces, so that it shall not be a people;
For before the child knows how to say, 'My father,' and, 'My mother,' the riches of Damascus and the spoil of Shomron will be carried away by the king of Ashur.*
The LORD said to him, *Call his name Yizre`el; for yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Yizre`el on the house of Yehu, and will cause the kingdom of the house of Yisra'el to cease.
She conceived again, and bore a daughter. Then he said to him, *Call her name Lo-Ruhamah; for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Yisra'el, that I should in any way pardon them.
Therefore a battle roar will arise among your people, and all your fortresses will be destroyed, as Shalman destroyed Beit-Arbel in the day of battle. The mother was dashed in pieces with her children.
For the children of Yisra'el shall abide many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without sacred stone, and without efod or idols.
Those who swear by the sin of Shomron, and say, 'As your god, Dan, lives;' and, 'As the way of Be'er-Sheva lives;' they will fall, and never rise up again.*