3. Then they will say, “We have no kingbecause we didn’t fear the lord.But even if we had a king,what could he do for us anyway?”
4. They spout empty wordsand make covenants they don’t intend to keep.So injustice springs up among themlike poisonous weeds in a farmer’s field.
5. The people of Samaria tremble in fearfor their calf idol at Beth-aven,and they mourn for it.Though its priests rejoice over it,its glory will be stripped away.
6. This idol will be carted away to Assyria,a gift to the great king there.Ephraim will be ridiculed and Israel will be shamed,because its people have trusted in this idol.
7. Samaria and its king will be cut off;they will float away like driftwood on an ocean wave.
8. And the pagan shrines of Aven, the place of Israel’s sin, will crumble.Thorns and thistles will grow up around their altars.They will beg the mountains, “Bury us!”and plead with the hills, “Fall on us!”
9. The lord says, “O Israel, ever since Gibeah,there has been only sin and more sin!You have made no progress whatsoever.Was it not right that the wicked men of Gibeah were attacked?