4
1 Hear this word, ye cows of Bashan,
that are on Mt Shomron, which oppress the poor,
which crush the needy, which say to their adonim:
Bring, and let us drink.
2 Adonoi Hashem hath sworn by His Kodesh that,
hinei, the yamim shall come upon you,
that He will take you away with hooks,
and the last of you with fishhooks.
3 And ye shall go out of the breaks in the wall,
every cow right behind the next;
and ye shall be cast out toward Harmon,
saith Hashem.
4 Come to Beit-El, and transgress;
at Gilgal multiply peysha'im;
and bring your zevakhim every boker, and your ma'asrot (tithes) every third day;
5 And offer a todah thank offering with chametz (leavened bread),
and proclaim and publish the nedavot (freewill offerings);
for this ye love, O Bnei Yisroel,
saith Adonoi Hashem.
6 And I also have given you
cleanness of teeth* in all your towns,
and want of lechem in all your places;
yet have ye not returned unto Me,
saith Hashem.
7 And also I have withheld the geshem from you,
when there were yet shloshah chodashim to the harvest;
and I caused it to rain upon one town,
and caused it not to rain upon another town;
one chelek (part) was rained upon,
and the chelek, whereupon it rained not, withered.
8 So two or three towns wandered unto one town,
to drink mayim, but they were not satisfied;
yet have ye not returned unto Me,
saith Hashem.
9 I have struck you with blight and mildew;
when your ganim (gardens) and your kramim (vineyards)
and your fig trees and your olive trees increased,
the locust devoured them;
yet have ye not returned unto Me,
saith Hashem.
10 I have sent among you the dever after the manner of Mitzrayim;
your bocherim have I slain with the cherev,
and have taken away your susim;
and I have made the stench
of your machanot to come up unto your nostrils;
yet have ye not returned unto Me,
saith Hashem.
11 I have overthrown some of you,
as Elohim overthrew Sodom and Amora (Gomorrah),
and ye were like a firebrand snatched from the burning;
yet have ye not returned unto Me,
saith Hashem.
12 Therefore thus will I do unto thee, O Yisroel;
and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet Eloheicha, O Yisroel.
13 For, hinei, He that formeth the harim, and createth the ruach,
and declareth unto man what is his thought,
that maketh the shachar darkness,
and treadeth upon the high places of the earth,
Hashem Elohei Tzva'os Shmo.
* 4:6 i.e., famine