King Pul of Assyria came against the land; Menahem gave Pul a thousand talents of silver, so that he might help him confirm his hold on the royal power.
Your country lies desolate; your cities are burned with fire; in your very presence aliens devour your land; it is desolate, as overthrown by foreigners.
You have never heard; you have never known; from of old your ear has not been opened. For I knew that you would act very treacherously and that from birth you were called a rebel.
The righteous perish, and no one considers why; the devout are taken away, while no one understands that it is due to evil that the righteous are taken away.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge! Because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me; and since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
For they sow the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind. The standing grain has no heads; it shall yield no meal; if it were to yield, foreigners would devour it.