Your own wickedness will rebuke you and your backslidings will chide you. Know then and see how bad and bitter it is for you to forsake Adonai your God. Nor is fear of Me in you.” It is a declaration of the Lord Adonai-Tzva’ot.
Samaria will bear her guilt, for she has rebelled against her God. They will fall by the sword, their infants dashed to pieces, their pregnant women ripped open.
“So now, implore God’s favor! Then, will He be gracious to us? Since this has come from your hands, will He accept any of it from you?” says Adonai-Tzva’ot.
The expression of their faces bears witness against them. They display their sin like Sodom— they do not hide it. Oy , their souls! For they brought evil on themselves.
Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by Adonai, the Shield of your help and the Sword of your triumph? Your enemies will cower before you, and you will trample on their backs.”
You also say, “It’s so tedious!” “And you sniff at it,” says Adonai-Tzva’ot. “So you bring plunder, the lame and the sick. Then you bring them as the offering. Should I accept this from your hand?” says Adonai.
He even sacrificed to the gods of Damascus after he had been defeated, for he said, “Because the gods of the kings of Aram helped them, I will sacrifice to them and they will help me.” But they caused the downfall of him and all Israel.
Nor did they not cry to Me in their heart when they were wailing on their beds. For the sake of grain and new wine they slash themselves— they keep turning away from Me.