4:1 Listen to this message, you “cows of Bashan”1 who live on Mount Samaria!
You2 oppress the poor;
you crush the needy.
You say to your3 husbands,
“Bring us more to drink!”4
4:2 The sovereign Lord confirms this oath by his own holy character:5
“Certainly the time is approaching6
when you will be carried away7 in baskets,8
every last one of you9 in fishermen’s pots.10
4:3 Each of you will go straight through the gaps in the walls;11
you will be thrown out12 toward Harmon.”13
The Lord is speaking!
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 leavened bread!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
Yet 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 field25 that received no rain dried up.
4:8 People from26 two or three cities staggered into one city to get27 water,
but remained thirsty.28
Yet you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking!
4:9 “I destroyed your crops29 with blight and disease.
Locusts kept30 devouring your orchards,31 vineyards, fig trees, and olive trees.
Yet 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.32
I killed your young men with the sword,
along with the horses you had captured.
I made the stench from the corpses33 rise up into your nostrils.
Yet you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking!
4:11 “I overthrew some of you the way God34 overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.35
You were like a burning stick36 snatched from the flames.
Yet you did not come back to me.”
The Lord is speaking!
4:12 “Therefore this is what I will do to you, Israel.
Since I will do this to you,
prepare to meet your God, Israel!37
4:13 For here he is! He38 formed the mountains and created the wind.
He reveals39 his plans40 to men.
He turns the dawn into darkness41 and marches on the earth’s heights.
The Lord, the God who leads armies,42 is his name!”
Death is Imminent