Many bulls have compassed me: strong {bulls} of Bashan have beset me round.

Woe to them {that are} at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, {which are} named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came! {are at...: or, are secure} {chief: or, firstfruits}

Forasmuch therefore as your treading {is} upon the poor, and ye take from him burdens of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, but ye shall not drink wine of them. {pleasant...: Heb. vineyards of desire}

Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. {goats: Heb. great goats}

So I returned, and considered all the oppressions that are done under the sun: and behold the tears of {such as were} oppressed, and they had no comforter; and on the side of their oppressors {there was} power; but they had no comforter. {side: Heb. hand}

Beware that there be not a thought in thy wicked heart, saying, The seventh year, the year of release, is at hand; and thine eye be evil against thy poor brother, and thou givest him nought; and he cry unto the LORD against thee, and it be sin unto thee. {thought: Heb. word} {wicked: Heb. Belial}

{Is} not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? {the heavy...: Heb. the bundles of the yoke} {oppressed: Heb. broken}

For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the LORD; I will set {him} in safety {from him that} puffeth at him. {puffeth...: or, would ensnare him}

And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, {and} the right of the poor.

For among my people are found wicked {men}: they lay wait, as he that setteth snares; they set a trap, they catch men. {they lay...: or, they pry as fowlers lie in wait}

Rob not the poor, because he {is} poor: neither oppress the afflicted in the gate:

Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away {the punishment} thereof; because they sold the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of shoes;

For thus hath the LORD of hosts said, Hew ye down trees, and cast a mount against Jerusalem: this {is} the city to be visited; she {is} wholly oppression in the midst of her. {cast...: or, pour out the engine of shot}

In thee have they set light by father and mother: in the midst of thee have they dealt by oppression with the stranger: in thee have they vexed the fatherless and the widow. {oppression: or, deceit}

{If} ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:

The fruit of thy land, and all thy labours, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed alway:

Go to now, {ye} rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon {you}.

Hear this, O ye that swallow up the needy, even to make the poor of the land to fail,

And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; {Is it} not for you to know judgment?

Slay all her bullocks; let them go down to the slaughter: woe unto them! for their day is come, the time of their visitation.

The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. {oppression: or, deceit} {wrongfully: Heb. without right}

And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in {his} wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger {from his right}, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts. {oppress: or, defraud}

Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon hath devoured me, he hath crushed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up like a dragon, he hath filled his belly with my delicates, he hath cast me out.

Woe unto them that join house to house, {that} lay field to field, till {there be} no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! {they: Heb. ye}

Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof. {oppressed: or, oppressions}

And they have cast lots for my people; and have given a boy for an harlot, and sold a girl for wine, that they might drink.

Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand.

Because he hath oppressed {and} hath forsaken the poor; {because} he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not; {oppressed: Heb. crushed}

Her princes in the midst thereof {are} like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, {and} to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.

And he bought the hill Samaria of Shemer for two talents of silver, and built on the hill, and called the name of the city which he built, after the name of Shemer, owner of the hill, Samaria. {Samaria: Heb. Shomeron}

In thee have they taken gifts to shed blood; thou hast taken usury and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbours by extortion, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord GOD.

If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for {he that is} higher than the highest regardeth; and {there be} higher than they. {at the... Heb. at the will, or, purpose}

Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless: {landmark: or, bound}

Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls; {fat: Heb. big, or, corpulent} {bellow...: or, neigh as steeds}

Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. {relieve: or, righten}

Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.

Many bulls have compassed me: strong {bulls} of Bashan have beset me round.

Publish in the palaces at Ashdod, and in the palaces in the land of Egypt, and say, Assemble yourselves upon the mountains of Samaria, and behold the great tumults in the midst thereof, and the oppressed in the midst thereof. {oppressed: or, oppressions}

Woe to them {that are} at ease in Zion, and trust in the mountain of Samaria, {which are} named chief of the nations, to whom the house of Israel came! {are at...: or, are secure} {chief: or, firstfruits}

Thou shalt not oppress an hired servant {that is} poor and needy, {whether he be} of thy brethren, or of thy strangers that {are} in thy land within thy gates:

Hath oppressed the poor and needy, hath spoiled by violence, hath not restored the pledge, and hath lifted up his eyes to the idols, hath committed abomination,

The LORD will enter into judgment with the ancients of his people, and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard; the spoil of the poor {is} in your houses. {eaten: or, burnt}

Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto me: and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress them.

I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, and will bind up {that which was} broken, and will strengthen that which was sick: but I will destroy the fat and the strong; I will feed them with judgment.

Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them fatlings of Bashan. {goats: Heb. great goats}

And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

{He is} a merchant, the balances of deceit {are} in his hand: he loveth to oppress. {a merchant: or, Canaan} {oppress: or, deceive}

And say unto them, Hear ye the word of the LORD, ye kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that enter in by these gates:

Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage, because ye are grown fat as the heifer at grass, and bellow as bulls; {fat: Heb. big, or, corpulent} {bellow...: or, neigh as steeds}

Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?

That pant after the dust of the earth on the head of the poor, and turn aside the way of the meek: and a man and his father will go in unto the {same} maid, to profane my holy name: {maid: or, young woman}

And they lay {themselves} down upon clothes laid to pledge by every altar, and they drink the wine of the condemned {in} the house of their god. {the condemned: or, such as have fined, or, mulcted}

Hear ye this word which I take up against you, {even} a lamentation, O house of Israel.

And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; {Is it} not for you to know judgment?

Woe to her that is filthy and polluted, to the oppressing city! {her...: or, gluttonous: Heb. craw}

But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received your consolation.

But ye have despised the poor. Do not rich men oppress you, and draw you before the judgment seats?

And they turned and went up by the way of Bashan: and Og the king of Bashan went out against them, he, and all his people, to the battle at Edrei.

Butter of kine, and milk of sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat; and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.

Because he hath oppressed {and} hath forsaken the poor; {because} he hath violently taken away an house which he builded not; {oppressed: Heb. crushed}

The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower {is} servant to the lender. {the lender: Heb. the man that lendeth}

The prince that wanteth understanding {is} also a great oppressor: {but} he that hateth covetousness shall prolong {his} days.

{There is} a generation, whose teeth {are as} swords, and their jaw teeth {as} knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from {among} men.

And the people shall be oppressed, every one by another, and every one by his neighbour: the child shall behave himself proudly against the ancient, and the base against the honourable.

Then shall the lambs feed after their manner, and the waste places of the fat ones shall strangers eat.

I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, {and} the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the yoke, {and} burst the bonds.

They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.