The inhabitants of Samaria fear Because of the calf of Beth Aven. For its people mourn for it, And its priests shriek for it -- Because its glory has departed from it.

" Though you, Israel, play the harlot, Let not Judah offend. Do not come up to Gilgal, Nor go up to Beth Aven, Nor swear an oath, [saying,] 'As the LORD lives' --

" Blow the ram's horn in Gibeah, The trumpet in Ramah! Cry aloud [at] Beth Aven, '[Look] behind you, O Benjamin!'

"Then I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it [and] ground [it] very small, until it was as fine as dust; and I threw its dust into the brook that descended from the mountain.

Therefore the king asked advice, made two calves of gold, and said to the people, "It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem. Here are your gods, O Israel, which brought you up from the land of Egypt!"

Now this thing became a sin, for the people went [to worship] before the one as far as Dan.

And this thing was the sin of the house of Jeroboam, so as to exterminate and destroy [it] from the face of the earth.

"And He will give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who sinned and who made Israel sin."

Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, Who say, 'As your god lives, O Dan!' And, 'As the way of Beersheba lives!' They shall fall and never rise again."

All this is for the transgression of Jacob And for the sins of the house of Israel. What [is] the transgression of Jacob? [Is it] not Samaria? And what [are] the high places of Judah? [Are they] not Jerusalem?

O inhabitant of Lachish, Harness the chariot to the swift steeds (She [was] the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion), For the transgressions of Israel were found in you.

For indeed they are gone because of destruction. Egypt shall gather them up; Memphis shall bury them. Nettles shall possess their valuables of silver; Thorns [shall be] in their tents.

On the land of my people will come up thorns [and] briers, Yes, on all the happy homes [in] the joyous city;

And thorns shall come up in its palaces, Nettles and brambles in its fortresses; It shall be a habitation of jackals, A courtyard for ostriches.

Then he cried out against the altar by the word of the LORD, and said, "O altar, altar! Thus says the LORD: 'Behold, a child, Josiah by name, shall be born to the house of David; and on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and men's bones shall be burned on you.' "

Moreover the altar that [was] at Bethel, [and] the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place [and] crushed [it] to powder, and burned the wooden image.

Now when all this was finished, all Israel who were present went out to the cities of Judah and broke the sacred pillars in pieces, cut down the wooden images, and threw down the high places and the altars -- from all Judah, Benjamin, Ephraim, and Manasseh -- until they had utterly destroyed them all. Then all the children of Israel returned to their own cities, every man to his possession.

He also burned the bones of the priests on their altars, and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem.

When he had broken down the altars and the wooden images, had beaten the carved images into powder, and cut down all the incense altars throughout all the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem.

They shall go into the holes of the rocks, And into the caves of the earth, From the terror of the LORD And the glory of His majesty, When He arises to shake the earth mightily.

"Then they will begin 'to say to the mountains, "Fall on us!" and to the hills, "Cover us!" '

and said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!

In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.