1. “Listen to this, you cows of Bashangrazing on the slopes of Samaria.You women! Mean to the poor,cruel to the down-and-out!Indolent and pampered, you demand of your husbands,‘Bring us a tall, cool drink!’
2-3. “This is serious—I, God, have sworn by my holiness!Be well warned: Judgment Day is coming!They’re going to rope you up and haul you off,keep the stragglers in line with cattle prods.They’ll drag you through the ruined city walls,forcing you out single file,And kick you to kingdom come.”God’s Decree.
10. “I revisited you with the old Egyptian plagues,killed your choice young men and prize horses.The stink of rot in your camps was so strongthat you held your noses—But you didn’t notice me.You continued to ignore me.”God’s Decree.
11. “I hit you with earthquake and fire,left you devastated like Sodom and Gomorrah.You were like a burning sticksnatched from the flames.But you never looked my way.You continued to ignore me.”God’s Decree.
12. “All this I have done to you, Israel,and this is why I have done it.Time’s up, O Israel!Prepare to meet your God!”
13. Look who’s here: Mountain-Shaper! Wind-Maker!He laid out the whole plot before Adam.He brings everything out of nothing,like dawn out of darkness.He strides across the alpine ridges.His name is God, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.