The Lord sent his word unto Jacob
and it hath lighted upon Israel.
And all the people shall know,
even Ephraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,
that say in the pride and stoutness of heart:
The bricks are fallen down,
but we will build with hewn stones;
the sycamores are cut down,
but we will change them into cedars.
Therefore the Lord shall set up
the adversaries of Rezin against him,
and join his enemies together;
The Syrians before and the Philistines behind;
and they shall devour Israel with open mouth.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
but his hand is stretched out still.
For the people turneth not unto him that smiteth them,
neither do they seek the Lord of Hosts.
Therefore will the Lord cut off from Israel head and tail,
branch and rush in one day.
The ancient,
he is the head;
and the prophet that teacheth lies,
he is the tail.
For the leaders of this people cause them to err;
and they that are led of them are destroyed.
Therefore the Lord shall have no joy in their young men,
neither shall have mercy on their fatherless and widows;
for every one of them is a hypocrite and an evildoer,
and every mouth speaketh folly.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
but his hand is stretched out still.
For wickedness burneth as the fire;
it shall devour the briers and thorns,
and shall kindle in the thickets of the forests,
and they shall mount up like the lifting up of smoke.
Through the wrath of the Lord of Hosts is the land darkened,
and the people shall be as the fuel of the fire;
no man shall spare his brother.
And he shall snatch on the right hand and be hungry;
and he shall eat on the left hand
and they shall not be satisfied;
they shall eat every man the flesh of his own arm—
Manasseh, Ephraim;
and Ephraim, Manasseh;
they together shall be against Judah.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
but his hand is stretched out still.
Wo unto them that decree unrighteous decrees,
and that write grievousness which they have prescribed;
To turn away the needy from judgment,
and to take away the right from the poor of my people,
that widows may be their prey,
and that they may rob the fatherless!
And what will ye do in the day of visitation,
and in the desolation which shall come from far?
to whom will ye flee for help?
and where will ye leave your glory?
Without me they shall bow down under the prisoners,
and they shall fall under the slain.
For all this his anger is not turned away,
but his hand is stretched out still.