Israel’s Guilt and Punishment

3 jHear this word that the Lord has spoken against you, O people of Israel, against the whole family that I brought up out of the land of Egypt:

2  k“You only have I known

of all the families of the earth;

ltherefore I will punish you

for all your iniquities.

3  “Do two walk together,

unless they have agreed to meet?

4  Does a lion roar in the forest,

when he has no prey?

Does a young lion cry out from his den,

if he has taken nothing?

5  Does a bird fall in a snare on the earth,

when there is no trap for it?

Does a snare spring up from the ground,

when it has taken nothing?

6  mIs a trumpet blown in a city,

and the people are not afraid?

nDoes disaster come to a city,

unless the Lord has done it?

7  “For the Lord God does nothing

owithout revealing his secret

to his servants the prophets.

8  The lion has roared;

who will not fear?

pThe Lord God has spoken;

who can but prophesy?”

9  Proclaim to the strongholds in qAshdod

and to the strongholds in the land of Egypt,

and say, “Assemble yourselves on rthe mountains of Samaria,

and see the great tumults within her,

and sthe oppressed in her midst.”