You refuse to admit that a day of disaster is coming, but what you do only brings that day closer.

You like to compose songs, as David did, and play them on harps.

So you will be the first to go into exile. Your feasts and banquets will come to an end.

Samaria fell because the Israelites sinned against the LORD their God, who had rescued them from the king of Egypt and had led them out of Egypt. They worshiped other gods,

The Israelites did things that the LORD their God disapproved of. They built pagan places of worship in all their towns, from the smallest village to the largest city.

and they burned incense on all the pagan altars, following the practice of the people whom the LORD had driven out of the land. They aroused the LORD's anger with all their wicked deeds

The LORD had sent his messengers and prophets to warn Israel and Judah: "Abandon your evil ways and obey my commands, which are contained in the Law I gave to your ancestors and which I handed on to you through my servants the prophets."

They refused to obey his instructions, they did not keep the covenant he had made with their ancestors, and they disregarded his warnings. They worshiped worthless idols and became worthless themselves, and they followed the customs of the surrounding nations, disobeying the LORD's command not to imitate them.

They sacrificed their sons and daughters as burnt offerings to pagan gods; they consulted mediums and fortunetellers, and they devoted themselves completely to doing what is wrong in the LORD's sight, and so aroused his anger.

Samaria fell because the Israelites did not obey the LORD their God, but broke the covenant he had made with them and disobeyed all the laws given by Moses, the servant of the LORD. They would not listen and they would not obey.

Although she was mine, Oholah continued to be a prostitute and was full of lust for her lovers from Assyria.

She was the whore for all the Assyrian officers, and her lust led her to defile herself by worshiping Assyrian idols.

So I handed her over to her Assyrian lovers whom she wanted so much.

The LORD has an accusation to bring against the people who live in this land. Listen, Israel, to what he says: "There is no faithfulness or love in the land, and the people do not acknowledge me as God.

They make promises and break them; they lie, murder, steal, and commit adultery. Crimes increase, and there is one murder after another.

The LORD says, "Wine, both old and new, is robbing my people of their senses!

At sacred places on the mountaintops they offer sacrifices, and on the hills they burn incense under tall, spreading trees, because the shade is so pleasant! "As a result, your daughters serve as prostitutes, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery.

"In the heat of their anger they murdered their rulers. Their kings have been assassinated one after another, but no one prays to me for help."

and do not realize that this reliance on foreigners has robbed them of their strength. Their days are numbered, but they don't even know it.

"My people chose kings, but they did it on their own. They appointed leaders, but without my approval. They took their silver and gold and made idols---for their own destruction.

An Israelite craftsman made the idol, and it is not a god at all! The gold bull worshiped in Samaria will be smashed to pieces!

They still keep on sinning by making metal images to worship---idols of silver, designed by human minds, made by human hands. And then they say, "Offer sacrifices to them!" How can anyone kiss those idols---idols in the shape of bulls!

And so these people will disappear like morning mist, like the dew that vanishes early in the day. They will be like chaff which the wind blows from the threshing place, like smoke from a chimney.

In the houses of evil people are treasures which they got dishonestly. They use false measures, a thing that I hate.

Your rich people exploit the poor, and all of you are liars.

You will eat, but not be satisfied---in fact you will still be hungry. You will carry things off, but you will not be able to save them; anything you do save I will destroy in war.

This will happen because you have followed the evil practices of King Omri and of his son, King Ahab. You have continued their policies, and so I will bring you to ruin, and everyone will despise you. People everywhere will treat you with contempt."

You have oppressed the poor and robbed them of their grain. And so you will not live in the fine stone houses you build or drink wine from the beautiful vineyards you plant.

I know how terrible your sins are and how many crimes you have committed. You persecute good people, take bribes, and prevent the poor from getting justice in the courts.

Listen to this, you that trample on the needy and try to destroy the poor of the country.

We can sell worthless wheat at a high price. We'll find someone poor who can't pay his debts, not even the price of a pair of sandals, and we'll buy him as a slave."

You are doomed! Heroes of the wine bottle! Brave and fearless when it comes to mixing drinks!

But for just a bribe you let the guilty go free, and you keep the innocent from getting justice.

God will destroy those who slander others, those who prevent the punishment of criminals, and those who tell lies to keep honest people from getting justice.

They threw dice to decide who would get the captives. They sold boys and girls into slavery to pay for prostitutes and wine.

You have taken the people of Judah and Jerusalem far from their own country and sold them to the Greeks.

yet you hate what is good and you love what is evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh off their bones.

You eat my people up. You strip off their skin, break their bones, and chop them up like meat for the pot.