Yahweh Will Judge Judah’s Leaders
For behold, the Lord, Yahweh of hosts, ais going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah
Both supply and support, the whole supply of bread
And the whole supply of water,
2 aThe mighty man and the man of war,
The judge and the prophet,
The diviner and the elder,
3 The commander of fifty and the highly respected man,
The counselor and the wise craftsman,
And the experienced enchanter.
4 And I will make ayoung men their princes,
And capricious children will rule over them,
5 And the people will be aoppressed,
Each one by another, and each one by his bneighbor;
The youth will overwhelm the elder
And the dishonorable, the honorable.
6 When a man agrasps his brother in his father’s house, saying,
“You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler,
And these ruins will be under your hand,”
7 He will protest on that day, saying,
“I will not be your ahealer,
For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
You should not appoint me ruler of the people.”
8 For aJerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,
Because their btongue and their deeds are against Yahweh,
To crebel against His glorious presence.
9 The expression of their faces answers against them,
And they declare their sin like aSodom;
They do not even conceal it.
Woe to their soul!
For they have bdealt out evil on themselves.
10 Say to the arighteous that it will go well with them,
For they will eat the fruit of their deeds.
11 Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him,
For awhat he has dealt out will be done to him.
12 O My people! Their taskmasters are ainfants,
And women rule over them.
O My people! bThose who guide you lead you astray
And swallow up the way of your paths.
13 aYahweh takes His stand to contend,
And stands to judge the peoples.
14 Yahweh aenters into judgment with the elders of His people and His princes,
“It is you who have bconsumed the vineyard;
The cplunder robbed of the afflicted is in your houses.
15 What do you mean by acrushing My people
And grinding the face of the afflicted?”
Declares Lord Yahweh of hosts.
Yahweh Will Judge Zion’s Daughters
16 Moreover, Yahweh said, “Because the adaughters of Zion are haughty
And walk with outstretched necks and seductive eyes,
And go along with mincing steps
And tinkle the bangles on their feet,
17 Therefore the Lord will smite the skull of the daughters of Zion with scabs,
And Yahweh will make their foreheads bare.”
18 In that day the Lord will remove the beauty of their anklets, headbands, acrescent ornaments, 19 dangling earrings, bracelets, veils, 20 aheaddresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, enchanted charms, 21 finger rings, anose rings, 22 festal robes, outer tunics, cloaks, money purses, 23 hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans, and shawls.
24 Now it will be that instead of sweet aperfume there will be the smell of rot;
Instead of a belt, a rope;
Instead of bwell‑set hair, a cplucked‑out scalp;
Instead of fine clothes, a ddonning of sackcloth;
And branding instead of beauty.
25 Your men will afall by the sword
And your mighty ones in battle.
26 And her agates will lament and mourn,
And deserted she will bsit on the ground.