Rebellious Judah

Listen, you heavens, and let the earth pay attention, because the Lord has spoken: “I reared children and brought them to adulthood, but then they rebelled against me.

The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s feeding trough, but Israel doesn’t know, and my people don’t understand.

“Oh, you sinful nation! You people burdened down by iniquity! You offspring of those who keep practicing what is evil! You corrupt children! “They’ve abandoned the Lord; they’ve despised the Holy One of Israel; in their estrangement, they’ve walked away from me.

“Listen to what the Lord says, you rulers of Sodom, and pay attention to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah!

As for your New Moons and your appointed festivals, I abhor them. They’ve become a burden to me; I’ve grown weary of carrying that burden.

An Invitation to Reconciliation

“Wash yourselves, and make yourselves clean; remove your evil behavior from my presence; stop practicing what is evil.

Learn to practice what is good; seek justice, alleviate oppression, defend orphans in court, and plead the widow’s case.

Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves. All of them are lovers of bribes and are runners after gifts. They don’t bring justice to orphans, and the widow’s case never comes up for review in their court.”

Restoration and Redemption

Therefore this is what the Lord God of the Heavenly Armies, the one who is Israel’s Mighty One, declares: “Now I’ll get relief from his enemies and avenge myself on his foes.

Your strong one will be like tinder, and your work a spark; both of them will burn together, with no one to quench the flames that burn them.”

He will judge between the nations, and will render verdicts for the benefit of many. “They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nations will not raise swords against nations, and they will not learn warfare anymore.

Their land is filled with idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their own fingers have made.

“So mankind is humbled, each human being is brought low, and you won’t forgive.”

“Stop trusting in human beings, whose life breath is in their nostrils, for what are they really worth?”

Judgment Comes to Judah’s Leaders

“Note this! The Lord God of the Heavenly Armies is taking away from Jerusalem and Judah everything that your society needs— all food supplies and all water supplies,

“I will make youths their princes, and infants will rule over them.

“But at that time, he’ll protest! He’ll say, ‘I won’t be your healer. I have neither food nor clothing in my house! You’re not going to make me a leader of the people!’

“For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen, because what they say and do opposes the Lord; they keep defying him.

“The expressions on their faces give them away. They parade their sin around like Sodom; they don’t even try to hide it. How horrible it will be for them, because they have brought disaster on themselves!”

Warning to the Wicked

“How terrible it will be for the wicked! Disaster is headed their way, because what they did with their hand will be repaid to them.

“As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people, your leaders are misleading you— they’re giving you confusing directions.”

What more could I do in my vineyard, that I haven’t already done? When I expected it to produce good grapes, why did it yield wild ones?

“Now, let me tell you, won’t you please, what I’m going to do to my vineyard. “I’m going to take away its protective hedge, and it will be devoured; I’ll break down its wall, and it will be trampled.

Judgment on Alcoholics

“How terrible it will be for those who rise at dawn in order to grab a stiff drink, for those who stay up late at night as wine inflames them!

They have the lyre and harp, the tambourine and flute, as well as wine at their festivals, but they don’t respect what the Lord is doing, nor do they consider his actions.