Evil in a city… He speaks of the evil of punishments of war, famine, pestilence, desolation, etc., but not of the evil of sin, of which God is not the author.
3:7. For the Lord God doth nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets.
3:8. The lion shall roar, who will not fear? The Lord God hath spoken, who shall not prophesy?
3:9. Publish it in the houses of Azotus, and in the houses of the land of Egypt, and say: Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the many follies in the midst thereof, and them that suffer oppression in the inner rooms thereof.
3:10. And they have not known to do the right thing, saith the Lord, storing up iniquity, and robberies in their houses.
3:11. Therefore thus saith the Lord God: The land shall be in tribulation, and shall be compassed about: and thy strength shall be taken away from thee, and thy houses shall be spoiled.
3:12. Thus saith the Lord: As if a shepherd should get out of the lion's mouth two legs, or the tip of the ear: so shall the children of Israel be taken out that dwell in Samaria, in a place of a bed, and in the couch of Damascus.
3:13. Hear ye, and testify in the house of Jacob, saith the Lord the God of hosts:
3:14. That in the day when I shall begin to visit the transgressions of Israel, I will visit upon him, and upon the altars of Bethel: and the horns of the altars shall be cut off, and shall fall to the ground.
3:15. And I will strike the winter house with the summer house: and the houses of ivory shall perish, and many houses shall be destroyed, saith the Lord.