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3. Witnesses Against Israel

¹ 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 The meaning of the Hebrew for this phrase is uncertain. from a couch. Or Israelites be rescued, / those who sit in Samaria / on the edge of their beds / and in Damascus on their couches.”

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.

In this verse he confirms what I have already said of oppressions: he says that they despised every thing right. But not to know this lessens not their guilt, as though they ignorantly offended; but the Prophet means, on the contrary, that they had cast away far from them everything that was just and allowed themselves all liberty in sinning, without any discrimination, without any shame; as though he said, “They are brute animals, who are void of all judgments of all reason, and of all shame; for they seek not to have a light understanding any more.” here then he accuses the Israelites of wilful blindness; for they hardened themselves in every evil, and extinguished all judgments shame and reasons so that they no longer distinguished between what was just and unjust: and he mentions one thing in particular — that they accumulated much wealth by plunder and robbery. The Israelites were no doubt guilty of many other crimes; but by stating a part for the whole, he mentions one thing which includes other things, and intimates, that the people were wholly given to all kinds of crimes, and that as they had cast aside every shame, obliterated every distinction, and repudiated every regard for justice, they abandoned themselves to every kind of wickedness. This, is the import of the Prophet’s words.

But our Prophet points out here the gross sins of the Israelites, because he had previously constituted the blind as their judges. Hence it was the same as though he had said, “Though the Egyptians and the Idumeans are void of light, yet your iniquity is so palpable, that they will be able to perceive it. There is indeed no necessity of any subtle disputation, since plunders and pillages are carried on with so much violence, since no moderation or equity is any longer observed, and no shame exists; but men rush headlong with blind impetuosity into every kind of evil; so that the very blind, though without eyes, can know what your state is. Then the Egyptians and Idumeans will perceive your vices, when located on the neighboring mountains.” This is the meaning. It now follows —