Witnesses summoned against Israel

3 Hear this word, people of Israel, the word the Lord has spoken against you – against the whole family I brought up out of Egypt:

² ‘You only have I chosen
    of all the families of the earth;
therefore I will punish you
    for all your sins.’

³ Do two walk together
    unless they have agreed to do so?
⁴ Does a lion roar in the thicket
    when it has no prey?
Does it growl in its den
    when it has caught nothing?
⁵ Does a bird swoop down to a trap on the ground
    when no bait is there?
Does a trap spring up from the ground
    if it has not caught anything?
⁶ When a trumpet sounds in a city,
    do not the people tremble?
When disaster comes to a city,
    has not the Lord caused it?

⁷ Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing
    without revealing his plan
    to his servants the prophets.

⁸ The lion has roared –
    who will not fear?
The Sovereign Lord has spoken –
    who can but prophesy?

⁹ Proclaim to the fortresses of Ashdod
    and to the fortresses of Egypt:
‘Assemble yourselves on the mountains of Samaria;
    see the great unrest within her
    and the oppression among her people.’

¹⁰ ‘They do not know how to do right,’ declares the Lord,
    ‘who store up in their fortresses
    what they have plundered and looted.’

¹¹ Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says:

‘An enemy will overrun your land,
    pull down your strongholds
    and plunder your fortresses.’

¹² This is what the Lord says:

‘As a shepherd rescues from the lion’s mouth
    only two leg bones or a piece of an ear,
so will the Israelites living in Samaria be rescued,
    with only the head of a bed
    and a piece of fabric from a couch.’

¹³ ‘Hear this and testify against the descendants of Jacob,’ declares the Lord, the Lord God Almighty.

¹⁴ ‘On the day I punish Israel for her sins,
    I will destroy the altars of Bethel;
the horns of the altar will be cut off
    and fall to the ground.
¹⁵ I will tear down the winter house
    along with the summer house;
the houses adorned with ivory will be destroyed
    and the mansions will be demolished,’
declares the Lord.