4:1 Listen to this message, you cows of Bashan ¹  who live on Mount Samaria!

You ²  oppress the poor;

you crush the needy.

You say to your ³  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 approaching ⁶ 

when you will be carried away ⁷  in baskets, ⁸ 

every last one of you ⁹  in fishermen’s pots. ¹⁰ 

4:3 Each of you will go straight through the gaps in the walls; ¹¹ 

you will be thrown out ¹²  toward Harmon.” ¹³ 

The Lord is speaking!

4:4 “Go to Bethel ¹⁴  and rebel! ¹⁵ 

At Gilgal ¹⁶  rebel some more!

Bring your sacrifices in ¹⁷  the morning,

your tithes on ¹⁸  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 gave ²¹  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 field ²⁴  would get rain, but the field that received no rain dried up.

4:8 People from ²⁵  two or three cities staggered into one city to get ²⁶  water,

but remained thirsty. ²⁷ 

Still you did not come back to me.”

The Lord is speaking!

4:9 “I destroyed your crops ²⁸  with blight and disease.

Locusts kept ²⁹  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 corpses ³²  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 God ³³  overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. ³⁴ 

You were like a burning stick ³⁵  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!

He ³⁷  formed the mountains and created the wind.

He reveals ³⁸  his plans ³⁹  to men.

He turns the dawn into darkness ⁴⁰ 

and marches on the heights of the earth.

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