Oh sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, brood of evildoers, depraved children! They have abandoned the Lord; they have despised the Holy One of Israel; they have turned their backs on him.

He will settle disputes among the nations and provide arbitration for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plows and their spears into pruning knives. Nation will not take up the sword against nation, and they will never again train for war.

Their land is full of silver and gold, and there is no limit to their treasures; their land is full of horses, and there is no limit to their chariots.

Their land is full of worthless idols; they worship the work of their hands, what their fingers have made.

On that day people will throw their worthless idols of silver and gold, which they made to worship, to the moles and the bats.

“I will make youths their leaders, and unstable rulers will govern them.”

The look 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 on themselves.

Tell the righteous that it will go well for them, for they will eat the fruit of their labor.

Jerusalem’s Women Judged

The Lord also says: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, walking with heads held high and seductive eyes, prancing along, jingling their ankle bracelets,

the Lord will put scabs on the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will shave their foreheads bare.

On that day the Lord will strip their finery: ankle bracelets, headbands, crescents,

At their feasts they have lyre, harp, tambourine, flute, and wine. They do not perceive the Lord’s actions, and they do not see the work of his hands.

Lambs will graze as if in their own pastures, and resident aliens will eat among the ruins of the rich.

Therefore, as a tongue of fire consumes straw and as dry grass shrivels in the flame, so their roots will become like something rotten and their blossoms will blow away like dust, for they have rejected the instruction of the Lord of Armies, and they have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

Therefore the Lord’s anger burned against his people. He raised his hand against them and struck them; the mountains quaked, and their corpses were like garbage in the streets. In all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still raised to strike.

Their arrows are sharpened, and all their bows strung. Their horses’ hooves are like flint; their chariot wheels are like a whirlwind.

Their roaring is like a lion’s; they roar like young lions; they growl and seize their prey and carry it off, and no one can rescue it.

Seraphim were standing above him; they each had six wings: with two they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they flew.

The foundations of the doorways shook at the sound of their voices, and the temple was filled with smoke.

Make the minds of these people dull; deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed.

When they say to you, “Inquire of the mediums and the spiritists who chirp and mutter,” shouldn’t a people inquire of their God? Should they inquire of the dead on behalf of the living?

They will wander through the land, dejected and hungry. When they are famished, they will become enraged, and, looking upward, will curse their king and their God.

For you have shattered their oppressive yoke and the rod on their shoulders, the staff of their oppressor, just as you did on the day of Midian.

Therefore the Lord does not rejoice over Israel’s young men and has no compassion on its fatherless and widows, for everyone is a godless evildoer, and every mouth speaks folly. In all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still raised to strike.

to keep the poor from getting a fair trial and to deprive the needy among my people of justice, so that widows can be their spoil and they can plunder the fatherless.