“Hear this word, hyou cows of Bashan,

who are ion the mountain of Samaria,

jwho oppress the poor, jwho crush the needy,

who say to your husbands, ‘Bring, that we may drink!’

2  kThe Lord God has sworn by his holiness

that, behold, the days are coming upon you,

lwhen they shall take you away with hooks,

leven the last of you with fishhooks.

3  mAnd you shall go out through the breaches,

each one straight ahead;

and you shall be cast out into Harmon,”

declares the Lord.

4  n“Come to Bethel, and transgress;

to oGilgal, and multiply transgression;

nbring your psacrifices every morning,

your tithes every three days;

5  offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of qthat which is leavened,

and proclaim rfreewill offerings, publish them;

sfor so you love to do, O people of Israel!”

declares the Lord God.

Israel Has Not Returned to the Lord

6  “I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities,

and tlack of bread in all your places,

uyet you did not return to me,”

declares the Lord.

7  “I also vwithheld the rain from you

when there were yet three months to the harvest;

wI would send rain on one city,

and send no rain on another city;

one field would have rain,

and the field on which it did not rain would wither;