God will punish Israel

8 The Lord has warned the people of Israel, the descendants of Jacob;

he has said that he will punish them.

9-10 9-10And all the people in Samaria and other places in Israel know that,

but they are very proud and arrogant [DOU].

They say, “Our city has been destroyed,

but we will take away the broken bricks from the ruins

and replace them with carefully cut stones.

Our sycamore-fig trees have been cut down by our enemies,

but we will plant cedar trees in their place.”

11 But Yahweh brought the armies of Assyria, the enemies of King Rezin of Syria, to fight against Israel

and incited other nations to attack Israel.

12 The army of Syria came from the east,

and the army of Philistia came from the west, and they destroyed Israel

like a wild animal tears another animal apart and [MET] devours it.

But even after that happened, Yahweh was still very angry with them.

He was ready to strike them with his fist again.

13 But even though Yahweh punished his people like that,

they still did not return to him and worship him.

They still did not request the Commander of the armies of angels to assist them.

14 Therefore, in one day Yahweh will get rid of those who are like Israel’s head and those who are like its tail;

the ones who are like the top of the palm tree and the ones who are like the bottom.

15 The leaders [DOU] of Israel are the head,

and the prophets who tell lies are the tail.

16 The leaders of the people have misled them;

they have caused the people that they are ruling to be confused.

17 For that reason, Yahweh is not pleased with the young men of Israel,

and he does not even act mercifully toward the widows and orphans,

because they are all ungodly and wicked,

and they all say things that are foolish.

But Yahweh still is angry with them;

he is ready to strike them with his fist again.

18 When people do wicked things,

it is like [SIM] a brushfire that spreads rapidly.

It burns up not only briers and thorns;

it starts a big fire in the forests

from which clouds of smoke will rise.

19 It is as though the whole land is burned black

because the Commander of the armies of angels is extremely angry with the Israeli people.

They will become like [SIM] fuel for that great fire,

and no one will try to rescue even his own brother from that fire.

20 Israeli people will attack their neighbors on the right to get food from them,

but they will still be hungry.

They will kill those who live in houses on the left and eat their flesh,

but their stomachs will still not be full.

21 People of the tribes of Manasseh and Ephraim will attack each other,

and then they will both attack the people of Judah.

But even after that happens, Yahweh will still be very angry with them.

He will be ready to strike them with his fist again.