Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah

¹For behold, the Lord GOD of Hostsis about to removefrom Jerusalem and Judahboth supplyand support:the whole supply of food and water,

²the mighty man and the warrior,the judge and the prophet,the soothsayer and the elder,

³the commander of fifty and the dignitary,the counselor, the cunning magician, and the clever enchanter.

⁴“I will make mere lads their leaders,and children will rule over them.”

⁵The people will oppress one another,man against man, neighbor against neighbor;the young will rise up against the old,and the base against the honorable.

⁶A man will seize his brotherwithin his father’s house:“You have a cloak—you be our leader!Take charge of this heap of rubble.”

⁷On that day he will cry aloud:“I am not a healer.I have no food or clothing in my house.Do not make me leader of the people!”

⁸For Jerusalem has stumbledand Judah has fallenbecause they spoke and acted against the LORD,defying His glorious presence.

⁹The expression on their faces testifies against them,and like Sodom they flaunt their sin;they do not conceal it.Woe to them,for they have brought disaster upon themselves.

¹⁰Tell the righteous it will be well with them,for they will enjoy the fruit of their labor.

¹¹Woe to the wicked; disaster is upon them!For they will be repaid with what their hands have done.

¹²Youths oppress My people,and women rule over them.O My people, your guides mislead you;they turn you from your paths.

¹³The LORD arises to contend;He stands to judge the people.

¹⁴The LORD brings this chargeagainst the elders and leaders of His people:“You have devoured the vineyard;the plunder of the poor is in your houses.

¹⁵Why do you crush My peopleand grind the faces of the poor?”declares the Lord GOD of Hosts.

A Warning to the Daughters of Zion

¹⁶The LORD also says:“Because the daughters of Zion are haughty—walking with heads held highand wanton eyes,prancing and skipping as they go,jingling the bracelets on their ankles—

¹⁷the Lord will bring soreson the heads of the daughters of Zion,and the LORD will make their foreheads bare.”

¹⁸In that day the Lord will take away their finery:their anklets and headbands and crescents;

¹⁹their pendants, bracelets, and veils;

²⁰their headdresses, ankle chains, and sashes;their perfume bottles and charms;

²¹their signet rings and nose rings;

²²their festive robes, capes, cloaks, and purses;

²³and their mirrors, linen garments, tiaras, and shawls.

²⁴Instead of fragrancethere will be a stench;instead of a belt, a rope;instead of styled hair, baldness;instead of fine clothing, sackcloth;instead of beauty, shame.

²⁵Your men will fall by the sword,and your warriors in battle.

²⁶And the gates of Zion will lament and mourn;destitute, she will sit on the ground.

Israel’s Adultery Rebuked

¹“Say of your brothers, ‘My people,’and of your sisters, ‘My loved one.’

²Rebuke your mother,rebuke her,for she is not My wife,and I am not her husband.Let her remove the adultery from her faceand the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.

³Otherwise, I will strip her nakedand expose her like the day of her birth.I will make her like a desertand turn her into a parched land,and I will let her die of thirst.

⁴I will have no compassion on her children,because they are the children of adultery.

⁵For their mother has played the harlotand has conceived them in disgrace.For she thought,‘I will go after my lovers,who give me bread and water,wool and linen, oil and drink.’

⁶Therefore, behold,I will hedge up her pathwith thorns;I will enclose her with a wall,so she cannot find her way.

⁷She will pursue her lovers but not catch them;she will seek them but not find them.Then she will say,‘I will return to my first husband,for then I was better off than now.’

⁸For she does not acknowledgethat it was I who gave her grain,new wine, and oil,who lavished on her silver and gold—which they crafted for Baal.

⁹Therefore I will take back My grain in its timeand My new wine in its season;I will take away My wool and linen,which were given to cover her nakedness.

¹⁰And then I will expose her lewdnessin the sight of her lovers,and no one will deliver herout of My hands.

¹¹I will put an end to all her exultation:her feasts, New Moons, and Sabbaths—all her appointed feasts.

¹²I will destroy her vines and fig trees,which she thinks are the wages paid by her lovers.So I will make them into a thicket,and the beasts of the field will devour them.

¹³I will punish her for the days of the Baalswhen she burned incense to them,when she adorned herself with rings and jewelry,and went after her lovers.But Me she forgot,”declares the LORD.

God’s Mercy to Israel

¹⁴“Therefore, behold, I will allure herand lead her to the wilderness,and speak to her tenderly.

¹⁵There I will give back her vineyardsand make the Valley of Achorinto a gateway of hope.There she will respond as she didin the days of her youth,as in the day she came up out of Egypt.

¹⁶In that day,”declares the LORD,“you will call Me ‘my Husband,’and no longer call Me ‘my Master.’

¹⁷For I will remove from her lips the names of the Baals;no longer will their names be invoked.

¹⁸On that day I will make a covenant for themwith the beasts of the field and the birds of the airand the creatures that crawl on the ground.And I will abolish bow and swordand battle in the land,and will make them lie down in safety.

¹⁹So I will betroth you to Me forever;I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,in loving devotionand compassion.

²⁰And I will betroth you in faithfulness,and you will know the LORD.”

²¹“On that day I will respond—”declares the LORD—“I will respond to the heavens,and they will respond to the earth.

²²And the earth will respond to the grain,to the new wine and oil,and they will respond to Jezreel.

²³And I will sow her as My own in the land,and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’‘You are My people,’and they will say,‘You are my God.’”

Sin Separates Us from God

¹Surely the arm of the LORD is not too short to save,nor His ear too dull to hear.

²But your iniquities have built barriersbetween you and your God,and your sins have hidden His face from you,so that He does not hear.

³For your hands are stained with blood,and your fingers with iniquity;your lips have spoken lies,and your tongue mutters injustice.

⁴No one calls for justice;no one pleads his case honestly.They rely on empty pleas; they tell lies;they conceive mischief and give birth to iniquity.

⁵They hatch the eggs of vipersand weave a spider’s web.Whoever eats their eggs will die;crack one open, and a viper is hatched.

⁶Their cobwebs cannot be made into clothing,and they cannot cover themselves with their works.Their deeds are sinful deeds,and acts of violence are in their hands.

⁷Their feet run to evil;they are swift to shed innocent blood.Their thoughts are sinful thoughts;ruin and destructionlie in their wake.

⁸The way of peace they have not known,and there is no justice in their tracks.They have turned them into crooked paths;no one who treads on them will know peace.

⁹Therefore justice is far from us,and righteousness does not reach us.We hope for light, but there is darkness;for brightness, but we walk in gloom.

¹⁰Like the blind, we feel our way along the wall,groping like those without eyes.We stumble at midday as in the twilight;among the vigorous we are like the dead.

¹¹We all growl like bearsand moan like doves.We hope for justice, but find none,for salvation, but it is far from us.

¹²For our transgressions are multiplied before You,and our sins testify against us.Our transgressions are indeed with us,and we know our iniquities:

¹³rebelling and denying the LORD,turning away from our God,speaking oppression and revolt,conceiving and uttering lies from the heart.

¹⁴So justice is turned away,and righteousness stands at a distance.For truth has stumbled in the public square,and honesty cannot enter.

¹⁵Truth is missing,and whoever turns from evil becomes prey.The LORD looked and was displeasedthat there was no justice.

¹⁶He saw that there was no man;He was amazed that there was no one to intercede.So His own arm brought salvation,and His own righteousness sustained Him.

¹⁷He put on righteousness like a breastplate,and the helmet of salvation on His head;He put on garments of vengeanceand wrapped Himself in a cloak of zeal.

The Covenant of the Redeemer

¹⁸So He will repay according to their deeds:fury to His enemies,retribution to His foes,and recompense to the islands.

¹⁹So shall they fear the name of the LORDwhere the sun sets,and His glory where it rises.For He will come like a raging flood,driven by the breath of the LORD.

²⁰“The Redeemer will come to Zion,to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,”declares the LORD.

²¹“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,”says the LORD. “My Spirit will not depart from you,and My words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and grandchildren, from now on and forevermore,” says the LORD.

Sing to the LORD a New Song

¹Sing to the LORD a new song,for He has done wonders;His right hand and holy armhave gained Him the victory.

²The LORD has proclaimed His salvationand revealed His righteousness to the nations.

³He has remembered His love and faithfulnessto the house of Israel;all the ends of the earthhave seen the salvation of our God.

⁴Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth;break forth—let your cry ring out, and sing praises!

⁵Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre,in melodious song with the harp.

⁶With trumpets and the blast of the ram’s hornshout for joy before the LORD, the King.

⁷Let the sea resound, and all that fills it,the world, and all who dwell in it.

⁸Let the rivers clap their hands,let the mountains sing together for joy

⁹before the LORD,for He comes to judge the earth.He will judge the world with righteousnessand the peoples with equity.