¹  Alas for those who are at ease in Zion,
        and for those who feel secure on Mount Samaria,
     the notables of the first of the nations,
        to whom the house of Israel resorts!
²  Cross over to Calneh, and see;
        from there go to Hamath the great;
        then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
     Are you better than these kingdoms
        Or is your territory greater than their territory,
³  O you that put far away the evil day,
        and bring near a reign of violence?

⁴  Alas for those who lie on beds of ivory,
        and lounge on their couches,
   and eat lambs from the flock,
        and calves from the stall;
⁵  who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp,
        and like David improvise on instruments of music;
⁶  who drink wine from bowls,
        and anoint themselves with the finest oils,
        but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!
⁷  Therefore they shall now be the first to go into exile,
        and the revelry of the loungers shall pass away.

⁸  The Lord GOD has sworn by himself
    (says the LORD, the God of hosts):
    I abhor the pride of Jacob
        and hate his strongholds;
        and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.

⁹  If ten people remain in one house, they shall die. ¹⁰And if a relative, one who burns the dead, shall take up the body to bring it out of the house, and shall say to someone in the innermost parts of the house, "Is anyone else with you?" the answer will come, "No." Then the relative shall say, "Hush! We must not mention the name of the LORD."

¹¹  See, the LORD commands,
        and the great house shall be shattered to bits,
        and the little house to pieces.
¹²  Do horses run on rocks?
        Does one plow the sea with oxen?
    But you have turned justice into poison
        and the fruit of righteousness into wormwood —
¹³  you who rejoice in Lo-debar,
        who say, "Have we not by our own strength
        taken Karnaim for ourselves?"
¹⁴  Indeed, I am raising up against you a nation,
        O house of Israel, says the LORD, the God of hosts,
    and they shall oppress you from Lebo-hamath
        to the Wadi Arabah.

⁵This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, and is intended to make you worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering. ⁶For it is indeed just of God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, ⁷and to give relief to the afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels ⁸in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹These will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, separated from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, ¹⁰when he comes to be glorified by his saints and to be marveled at on that day among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. ¹¹To this end we always pray for you, asking that our God will make you worthy of his call and will fulfill by his power every good resolve and work of faith, ¹²so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

⁵⁷Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. ⁵⁸Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown his great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her.

⁵⁹On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him Zechariah after his father. ⁶⁰But his mother said, "No; he is to be called John." ⁶¹They said to her, "None of your relatives has this name." ⁶²Then they began motioning to his father to find out what name he wanted to give him. ⁶³He asked for a writing tablet and wrote, "His name is John." And all of them were amazed. ⁶⁴Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue freed, and he began to speak, praising God. ⁶⁵Fear came over all their neighbors, and all these things were talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. ⁶⁶All who heard them pondered them and said, "What then will this child become?" For, indeed, the hand of the Lord was with him.

⁶⁷Then his father Zechariah was filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke this prophecy:

⁶⁸"Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,

for he has looked favorably on his people and redeemed them."