Dual Panel1How terrible it will be for you who lounge in luxury and think you are secure in Jerusalem and Samaria! You are famous and popular in Israel, you to whom the people go for help.
2Go over to Calneh and see what happened there. Then go to the great city of Hamath and on down to the Philistine city of Gath. You are no better than they were, and look at how they were destroyed.
3You push away every thought of coming disaster, but your actions only bring the day of judgment closer.
4How terrible it will be for you who sprawl on ivory beds surrounded with luxury, eating the meat of tender lambs and choice calves.
5You sing idle songs to the sound of the harp, and you fancy yourselves to be great musicians, as King David was.
6You drink wine by the bowlful, and you perfume yourselves with exotic fragrances, caring nothing at all that your nation is going to ruin.
7Therefore, you will be the first to be led away as captives. Suddenly, all your revelry will end.
8The Sovereign LORD has sworn by his own name, and this is what he, the LORD God Almighty, says: "I despise the pride and false glory of Israel, and I hate their beautiful homes. I will give this city and everything in it to their enemies."
9If there are ten men left in one house, they will all die.
10And when a close relative––one who is responsible for burning the dead––goes into the house to carry away a dead body, he will ask the last survivor, "Is there anyone else with you?" And the person will answer, "No!" Then he will say, "Hush! Don’t even whisper the name of the LORD. He might hear you!"
11When the LORD gives the command, homes both great and small will be smashed to pieces.
12Can horses gallop over rocks? Can oxen be used to plow rocks? Stupid even to ask––but that’s how stupid you are when you turn justice into poison and make bitter the sweet fruit of righteousness.
13And just as stupid is this bragging about your conquest of Lo–debar. You boast, "Didn’t we take Karnaim by our own strength and power?"
14"O people of Israel, I am about to bring an enemy nation against you," says the LORD God Almighty. "It will oppress you bitterly throughout your land––from Lebo–hamath in the north to the Arabah Valley in the south."