The arrogance of the people of Israel cries out against them. In spite of everything that has happened, they have not returned to me, the LORD their God.

There are people who think they are so good---oh, how good they think they are!

Their prejudices will be held against them. They sin as openly as the people of Sodom did. They are doomed, and they have brought it on themselves.

All the people of Israel, everyone who lives in the city of Samaria, will know that he has done this. Now they are proud and arrogant. They say,

"The brick buildings have fallen down, but we will replace them with stone buildings. The beams of sycamore wood have been cut down, but we will replace them with the finest cedar."

The kingdom of Israel is doomed! Its glory is fading like the crowns of flowers on the heads of its drunken leaders. Their proud heads are well perfumed, but there they lie, dead drunk.

The pride of those drunken leaders will be trampled underfoot.

All those who make idols are worthless, and the gods they prize so highly are useless. Those who worship these gods are blind and ignorant---and they will be disgraced.

" LORD, our crimes against you are many. Our sins accuse us. We are well aware of them all.

My people cry out to me, 'Even though our sins accuse us, help us, LORD, as you have promised. We have turned away from you many times; we have sinned against you.

So you actually admit that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets!

He said to him, 'You bad servant! I will use your own words to condemn you! You know that I am a hard man, taking what is not mine and reaping what I have not planted.

Night and day you blunder on, and the prophets do no better than you. I am going to destroy Israel, your mother.

Return to the LORD your God, people of Israel. Your sin has made you stumble and fall.

Honesty makes a good person's life easier, but the wicked will cause their own downfall.

You can be sure that evil people will be punished, but the righteous will escape.

Wicked people bring about their own downfall by their evil deeds, but good people are protected by their integrity.

No matter how often honest people fall, they always get up again; but disaster destroys the wicked.

Virgin Israel has fallen, Never to rise again! She lies abandoned on the ground, And no one helps her up.

I will attack the people of Israel and Judah like a lion. I myself will tear them to pieces and then leave them. When I drag them off, no one will be able to save them.

"The people of Israel have built palaces, but they have forgotten their own Maker. The people of Judah have built fortified cities. But I will send fire that will burn down their palaces and their cities."

But even the people of Judah did not obey the laws of the LORD their God; they imitated the customs adopted by the people of Israel.

The LORD rejected all the Israelites, punishing them and handing them over to cruel enemies until at last he had banished them from his sight.

You followed in your sister's footsteps, and so I will give you the same cup of punishment to drink."

It will make you miserable and drunk, that cup of fear and ruin, your sister Samaria's cup.

Now this is what the Sovereign LORD is saying: "Because you forgot me and turned your back on me, you will suffer for your lust and your prostitution."

The LORD says, "The people of Judah have sinned again and again, and for this I will certainly punish them. They have despised my teachings and have not kept my commands. They have been led astray by the same false gods that their ancestors served.

So I will send fire upon Judah and burn down the fortresses of Jerusalem."