Israel has an Appointment with God

4:4 “Go to Bethel14 and rebel!15

At Gilgal16 rebel some more!

Bring your sacrifices in17 the morning,

your tithes on18 the third day!

4:5 Burn a thank offering of bread made with yeast!19

Make a public display of your voluntary offerings!20

For you love to do this, you Israelites.”

The sovereign Lord is speaking!

4:6 “But surely I gave21 you no food to eat in any of your cities;

you lacked food everywhere you live.22

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

4:7 “I withheld rain from you three months before the harvest.23

I gave rain to one city, but not to another.

One field24 would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.

4:8 People from25 two or three cities staggered into one city to get26 water,

but remained thirsty.27

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

4:9 “I destroyed your crops28 with blight and disease.

Locusts kept29 devouring your orchards,30 vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

4:10 “I sent against you a plague like one of the Egyptian plagues.31

I killed your young men with the sword,

along with the horses you had captured.

I made the stench from the corpses32 rise up into your nostrils.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

4:11 “I overthrew some of you the way God33 overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.34

You were like a burning stick35 snatched from the flames.

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

4:12 “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel.

Because I will do this to you,

prepare to meet your God, Israel!36

4:13 For here he is!

He37 formed the mountains and created the wind.

He reveals38 his plans39 to men.

He turns the dawn into darkness40

and marches on the heights of the earth.

The Lord, the God who commands armies,41 is his name!”