We have heard a message from the Lord:
    An envoy^(E) was sent to the nations to say,
“Rise, let us go against her for battle”^(F)—

² “See, I will make you small^(G) among the nations;
    you will be utterly despised.
³ The pride^(H) of your heart has deceived you,
    you who live in the clefts of the rocks^[a](I)
    and make your home on the heights,
you who say to yourself,
    ‘Who can bring me down to the ground?’^(J)
4 Though you soar like the eagle
    and make your nest^(K) among the stars,
    from there I will bring you down,”^(L)
declares the Lord.^(M)
5 “If thieves came to you,
    if robbers in the night—
oh, what a disaster awaits you!—
    would they not steal only as much as they wanted?
If grape pickers came to you,
    would they not leave a few grapes?^(N)
6 But how Esau will be ransacked,
    his hidden treasures pillaged!
⁷ All your allies^(O) will force you to the border;
    your friends will deceive and overpower you;
those who eat your bread^(P) will set a trap for you,^[b]
    but you will not detect it.

⁸ “In that day,” declares the Lord,
    “will I not destroy^(Q) the wise men of Edom,
    those of understanding in the mountains of Esau?
⁹ Your warriors, Teman,^(R) will be terrified,
    and everyone in Esau’s mountains
    will be cut down in the slaughter.
¹⁰ Because of the violence^(S) against your brother Jacob,^(T)
    you will be covered with shame;
    you will be destroyed forever.^(U)
11 On the day you stood aloof
    while strangers carried off his wealth
and foreigners entered his gates
    and cast lots^(V) for Jerusalem,
    you were like one of them.^(W)
12 You should not gloat^(X) over your brother
    in the day of his misfortune,^(Y)
nor rejoice^(Z) over the people of Judah
    in the day of their destruction,^(AA)
nor boast^(AB) so much
    in the day of their trouble.^(AC)
13 You should not march through the gates of my people
    in the day of their disaster,
nor gloat over them in their calamity^(AD)
    in the day of their disaster,
nor seize their wealth
    in the day of their disaster.
¹⁴ You should not wait at the crossroads
    to cut down their fugitives,^(AE)
nor hand over their survivors
    in the day of their trouble.

¹⁵ “The day of the Lord is near^(AF)
    for all nations.
As you have done, it will be done to you;
    your deeds^(AG) will return upon your own head.
¹⁶ Just as you drank^(AH) on my holy hill,^(AI)
    so all the nations will drink^(AJ) continually;
they will drink and drink
    and be as if they had never been.^(AK)
17 But on Mount Zion will be deliverance;^(AL)
    it will be holy,^(AM)
    and Jacob will possess his inheritance.^(AN)
18 Jacob will be a fire
    and Joseph a flame;
Esau will be stubble,
    and they will set him on fire^(AO) and destroy^(AP) him.
There will be no survivors^(AQ)
    from Esau.”
The Lord has spoken.

¹⁹ People from the Negev will occupy
    the mountains of Esau,
and people from the foothills will possess
    the land of the Philistines.^(AR)
They will occupy the fields of Ephraim and Samaria,^(AS)
    and Benjamin^(AT) will possess Gilead.
²⁰ This company of Israelite exiles who are in Canaan
    will possess the land as far as Zarephath;^(AU)
the exiles from Jerusalem who are in Sepharad
    will possess the towns of the Negev.^(AV)
21 Deliverers^(AW) will go up on^[c] Mount Zion
    to govern the mountains of Esau.
    And the kingdom will be the Lord’s.^(AX)

⁵ “Before I formed you in the womb^(G) I knew^[a](H) you,
    before you were born^(I) I set you apart;^(J)
    I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.^(K)”

“Their kings will come and set up their thrones
    in the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem;
they will come against all her surrounding walls
    and against all the towns of Judah.^(AA)
16 I will pronounce my judgments^(AB) on my people
    because of their wickedness^(AC) in forsaking me,^(AD)
in burning incense to other gods^(AE)
    and in worshiping^(AF) what their hands have made.^(AG)

“‘I remember the devotion of your youth,^(AO)
    how as a bride you loved me
and followed me through the wilderness,^(AP)
    through a land not sown.
³ Israel was holy^(AQ) to the Lord,^(AR)
    the firstfruits^(AS) of his harvest;
all who devoured^(AT) her were held guilty,^(AU)
    and disaster overtook them,’”
declares the Lord.

⁴ Hear the word of the Lord, you descendants of Jacob,
    all you clans of Israel.

“What fault did your ancestors find in me,
    that they strayed so far from me?
They followed worthless idols^(AV)
    and became worthless^(AW) themselves.
⁶ They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord,
    who brought us up out of Egypt^(AX)
and led us through the barren wilderness,
    through a land of deserts^(AY) and ravines,^(AZ)
a land of drought and utter darkness,
    a land where no one travels^(BA) and no one lives?’
⁷ I brought you into a fertile land
    to eat its fruit and rich produce.^(BB)
But you came and defiled my land
    and made my inheritance detestable.^(BC)
8 The priests did not ask,
    ‘Where is the Lord?’
Those who deal with the law did not know me;^(BD)
    the leaders^(BE) rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal,^(BF)
    following worthless idols.^(BG)

⁹ “Therefore I bring charges^(BH) against you again,”
declares the Lord.
    “And I will bring charges against your children’s children.
¹⁰ Cross over to the coasts of Cyprus^(BI) and look,
    send to Kedar^[c](BJ) and observe closely;
    see if there has ever been anything like this:
¹¹ Has a nation ever changed its gods?
    (Yet they are not gods^(BK) at all.)
But my people have exchanged their glorious^(BL) God
    for worthless idols.
¹² Be appalled at this, you heavens,
    and shudder with great horror,”
declares the Lord.
¹³ “My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken^(BM) me,
    the spring of living water,^(BN)
and have dug their own cisterns,
    broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
¹⁴ Is Israel a servant, a slave^(BO) by birth?
    Why then has he become plunder?
¹⁵ Lions^(BP) have roared;
    they have growled at him.
They have laid waste^(BQ) his land;
    his towns are burned^(BR) and deserted.^(BS)
16 Also, the men of Memphis^(BT) and Tahpanhes^(BU)
    have cracked your skull.
¹⁷ Have you not brought this on yourselves^(BV)
    by forsaking^(BW) the Lord your God
    when he led you in the way?
¹⁸ Now why go to Egypt^(BX)
    to drink water from the Nile^[d]?^(BY)
And why go to Assyria^(BZ)
    to drink water from the Euphrates?^(CA)
19 Your wickedness will punish you;
    your backsliding^(CB) will rebuke^(CC) you.
Consider then and realize
    how evil and bitter^(CD) it is for you
when you forsake^(CE) the Lord your God
    and have no awe^(CF) of me,”
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

²⁰ “Long ago you broke off your yoke^(CG)
    and tore off your bonds;^(CH)
    you said, ‘I will not serve you!’^(CI)
Indeed, on every high hill^(CJ)
    and under every spreading tree^(CK)
    you lay down as a prostitute.^(CL)
21 I had planted^(CM) you like a choice vine^(CN)
    of sound and reliable stock.
How then did you turn against me
    into a corrupt,^(CO) wild vine?
²² Although you wash^(CP) yourself with soap^(CQ)
    and use an abundance of cleansing powder,
    the stain of your guilt is still before me,”
declares the Sovereign Lord.^(CR)
23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled;^(CS)
    I have not run after the Baals’?^(CT)
See how you behaved in the valley;^(CU)
    consider what you have done.
You are a swift she-camel
    running^(CV) here and there,
²⁴ a wild donkey^(CW) accustomed to the desert,^(CX)
    sniffing the wind in her craving—
    in her heat who can restrain her?
Any males that pursue her need not tire themselves;
    at mating time they will find her.
²⁵ Do not run until your feet are bare
    and your throat is dry.
But you said, ‘It’s no use!^(CY)
    I love foreign gods,^(CZ)
    and I must go after them.’^(DA)

²⁶ “As a thief is disgraced^(DB) when he is caught,
    so the people of Israel are disgraced—
they, their kings and their officials,
    their priests^(DC) and their prophets.^(DD)
27 They say to wood,^(DE) ‘You are my father,’
    and to stone,^(DF) ‘You gave me birth.’
They have turned their backs^(DG) to me
    and not their faces;^(DH)
yet when they are in trouble,^(DI) they say,
    ‘Come and save^(DJ) us!’
²⁸ Where then are the gods^(DK) you made for yourselves?
    Let them come if they can save you
    when you are in trouble!^(DL)
For you, Judah, have as many gods
    as you have towns.^(DM)

²⁹ “Why do you bring charges against me?
    You have all^(DN) rebelled against me,”
declares the Lord.
³⁰ “In vain I punished your people;
    they did not respond to correction.^(DO)
Your sword has devoured your prophets^(DP)
    like a ravenous lion.

“Have I been a desert to Israel
    or a land of great darkness?^(DQ)
Why do my people say, ‘We are free to roam;
    we will come to you no more’?^(DR)
32 Does a young woman forget her jewelry,
    a bride her wedding ornaments?
Yet my people have forgotten^(DS) me,
    days without number.
³³ How skilled you are at pursuing^(DT) love!
    Even the worst of women can learn from your ways.
³⁴ On your clothes is found
    the lifeblood^(DU) of the innocent poor,
    though you did not catch them breaking in.^(DV)
Yet in spite of all this
³⁵     you say, ‘I am innocent;^(DW)
    he is not angry with me.’
But I will pass judgment^(DX) on you
    because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’^(DY)
36 Why do you go about so much,
    changing^(DZ) your ways?
You will be disappointed by Egypt^(EA)
    as you were by Assyria.
³⁷ You will also leave that place
    with your hands on your head,^(EB)
for the Lord has rejected those you trust;
    you will not be helped^(EC) by them.