Israel Will Reap the Whirlwind

¹Put the ram’s horn to your lips!An eagle looms over the house of the LORD,because the people have transgressed My covenantand rebelled against My law.

²Israel cries out to Me,“O our God, we know You!”

³But Israel has rejected good;an enemy will pursue him.

⁴They set up kings, but not by Me.They make princes, but without My approval.With their silver and gold they make themselves idols,to their own destruction.

⁵He has rejected your calf,O Samaria.My anger burns against them.How long will they beincapable of innocence?

⁶For this thing is from Israel—a craftsman made it, and it is not God.It will be broken to pieces,that calf of Samaria.

⁷For they sow the wind,and they shall reap the whirlwind.There is no standing grain;what sprouts fails to yield flour.Even if it should produce,the foreigners would swallow it up.

⁸Israel is swallowed up!Now they are among the nationslike a worthless vessel.

⁹For they have gone up to Assyrialike a wild donkey on its own.Ephraimhas hired lovers.

¹⁰Though they hire allies among the nations,I will now round them up,and they will begin to diminishunder the oppression of the king of princes.

¹¹Though Ephraim multiplied the altars for sin,they became his altars for sinning.

¹²Though I wrote for them the great things of My law,they regarded them as something strange.

¹³Though they offer sacrifices as gifts to Me,and though they eat the meat,the LORD does not accept them.Now He will remember their iniquity and punish their sins:They will return to Egypt.

¹⁴Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces;Judah has multiplied its fortified cities.But I will send fire upon their cities,and it will consume their citadels.

Elisha’s Prophecy of Plenty

¹Then Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD! This is what the LORD says: ‘About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, a seah of fine flourwill sell for a shekel,and two seahs of barleywill sell for a shekel.’”

²But the officer on whose arm the king leaned answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?”“You will see it with your own eyes,” replied Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it.”

The Syrians Flee

³Now there were four men with leprosyat the entrance of the city gate, and they said to one another, “Why just sit here until we die?

⁴If we say, ‘Let us go into the city,’ we will die there from the famine in the city; but if we sit here, we will also die. So come now, let us go over to the camp of the Arameans. If they let us live, we will live; if they kill us, we will die.”

⁵So they arose at twilight and went to the camp of the Arameans. But when they came to the outskirts of the camp, there was not a man to be found.

⁶For the Lord had caused the Arameans to hear the sound of chariots, horses, and a great army, so that they said to one another, “Look, the king of Israel must have hired the kings of the Hittites and Egyptians to attack us.”

⁷Thus the Arameans had arisen and fled at twilight, abandoning their tents and horses and donkeys. The camp was intact, and they had run for their lives.

⁸When the lepers reached the edge of the camp, they went into a tent to eat and drink. Then they carried off the silver, gold, and clothing, and went and hid them. On returning, they entered another tent, carried off some items from there, and hid them.

⁹Finally, they said to one another, “We are not doing what is right. Today is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until morning light, our sin will overtake us. Now, therefore, let us go and tell the king’s household.”

¹⁰So they went and called out to the gatekeepers of the city, saying, “We went to the Aramean camp and no one was there—not a trace—only tethered horses and donkeys, and the tents were intact.”

¹¹The gatekeepers shouted the news, and it was reported to the king’s household.

¹²So the king got up in the night and said to his servants, “Let me tell you what the Arameans have done to us. They know we are starving, so they have left the camp to hide in the field, thinking, ‘When they come out of the city, we will take them alive and enter the city.’”

¹³But one of his servants replied, “Please, have scouts take five of the horses that remain in the city. Their plight will be no worse than all the Israelites who are left here. You can see that all the Israelites here are doomed. So let us send them and find out.”

¹⁴Then the scouts took two chariots with horses, and the king sent them after the Aramean army, saying, “Go and see.”

¹⁵And they tracked them as far as the Jordan, and indeed, the whole way was littered with the clothing and equipment the Arameans had thrown off in haste. So the scouts returned and told the king.

Elisha’s Prophecy Fulfilled

¹⁶Then the people went out and plundered the camp of the Arameans. It was then that a seah of fine flour sold for a shekel, and two seahs of barley sold for a shekel, according to the word of the LORD.

¹⁷Now the king had appointed the officer on whose arm he leaned to be in charge of the gate, but the people trampled him in the gateway, and he died, just as the man of God had foretold when the king had come to him.

¹⁸It happened just as the man of God had told the king: “About this time tomorrow at the gate of Samaria, two seahs of barley will sell for a shekel, and a seah of fine flour will sell for a shekel.”

¹⁹And the officer had answered the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD were to make windows in heaven, could this really happen?”So Elisha had replied, “You will see it with your own eyes, but you will not eat any of it!”

²⁰And that is just what happened to him. The people trampled him in the gateway, and he died.

Woe to Those Who Rely on Egypt

¹Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help,who rely on horses,who trust in their abundance of chariotsand in their multitude of horsemen.They do not look to the Holy One of Israel;they do not seek the LORD.

²Yet He too is wise and brings disaster;He does not call back His words.He will rise up against the house of the wickedand against the allies of evildoers.

³But the Egyptians are men, not God;their horses are flesh, not spirit.When the LORD stretches out His hand,the helper will stumble,and the one he helps will fall;both will perish together.

⁴For this is what the LORD has said to me:“Like a lion roaringor a young lion over its prey—and though a band of shepherds is called out against it,it is not terrified by their shoutingor subdued by their clamor—so the LORD of Hosts will come downto do battle on Mount Zion and its heights.

⁵Like birds hovering overhead,so the LORD of Hosts will protect Jerusalem.He will shield it and deliver it;He will pass over it and preserve it.”

⁶Return to the One against whom you have so blatantly rebelled, O children of Israel.

⁷For on that day, every one of you will reject the idols of silver and gold that your own hands have sinfully made.

⁸“Then Assyria will fall,but not by the sword of man;a sword will devour them,but not one made by mortals.They will flee before the sword,and their young men will be put to forced labor.

⁹Their rock will pass away for fear,and their princes will panic at the sight of the battle standard,”declares the LORD, whose fire is in Zion,whose furnace is in Jerusalem.

Give Praise, O Servants of the LORD

¹Hallelujah!Praise the name of the LORD.Give praise, O servants of the LORD,

²who stand in the house of the LORD,in the courts of the house of our God.

³Hallelujah, for the LORD is good;sing praises to His name, for it is lovely.

⁴For the LORD has chosen Jacob as His own,Israel as His treasured possession.

⁵For I know that the LORD is great;our Lord is above all gods.

⁶The LORD does all that pleases Himin the heavens and on the earth,in the seas and in all their depths.

⁷He causes the clouds to risefrom the ends of the earth.He generates the lightning with the rainand brings forth the wind from His storehouses.

⁸He struck down the firstborn of Egypt,of both man and beast.

⁹He sent signs and wonders into your midst, O Egypt,against Pharaoh and all his servants.

¹⁰He struck down many nationsand slaughtered mighty kings:

¹¹Sihon king of the Amorites,Og king of Bashan,and all the kings of Canaan.

¹²He gave their land as an inheritance,as a heritage to His people Israel.

¹³Your name, O LORD, endures forever,Your renown, O LORD, through all generations.

¹⁴For the LORD will vindicate His peopleand will have compassion on His servants.

¹⁵The idols of the nations are silver and gold,made by the hands of men.

¹⁶They have mouths, but cannot speak;they have eyes, but cannot see;

¹⁷they have ears, but cannot hear;nor is there breath in their mouths.

¹⁸Those who make them become like them,as do all who trust in them.

¹⁹O house of Israel, bless the LORD;O house of Aaron, bless the LORD;

²⁰O house of Levi, bless the LORD;you who fear the LORD, bless the LORD!

²¹Blessed be the LORD from Zion—He who dwells in Jerusalem.Hallelujah!