Judgment on Judah and Jerusalem

¹For behold, the sLord God of hosts

is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah

support and supply,1

all tsupport of bread,

and all support of water;

²uthe mighty man and the soldier,

the judge and the prophet,

the diviner and the elder,

³the captain of fifty

and the man of rank,

the counselor and the skillful magician

and the expert in charms.

⁴vAnd I will make boys their princes,

and infants2 shall rule over them.

⁵wAnd the people will oppress one another,

every one his fellow

and every one his neighbor;

the youth will be insolent to the elder,

and the despised to the honorable.

⁶For xa man will take hold of his brother

in the house of his father, saying:

“You have a cloak;

you shall be our leader,

and this heap of ruins

shall be under your rule”;

⁷in that day he will speak out, saying:

“I will not be a yhealer;3

in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;

you shall not make me

leader of the people.”

⁸For Jerusalem has stumbled,

and Judah has fallen,

because their zspeech and their deeds are against the Lord,

adefying his glorious presence.4

⁹For the look on their faces bears witness against them;

they proclaim their sin blike Sodom;

they do not hide it.

Woe to them!

cFor they have brought evil on themselves.

¹⁰dTell the righteous that it shall be well with them,

efor they shall eat the fruit of their deeds.

¹¹fWoe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,

for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.

¹²My people—ginfants are their oppressors,

and women rule over them.

O my people, hyour guides mislead you

and they have swallowed up5 the course of your paths.

¹³The Lord ihas taken his place to contend;

he stands to judge peoples.

¹⁴The Lord will enter into judgment

with the jelders and princes of his people:

“It is you who khave devoured6 the vineyard,

lthe spoil of the poor is in your houses.

¹⁵What do you mean by mcrushing my people,

by grinding the face of the poor?”

declares the Lord God of hosts.

¹⁶The Lord said:

nBecause othe daughters of Zion are haughty

and walk with outstretched necks,

glancing wantonly with their eyes,

mincing along as they go,

ptinkling with their feet,

¹⁷therefore the Lord qwill strike with a scab

the heads of othe daughters of Zion,

and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.

¹⁸In that day the Lord will take away rthe finery of the anklets, the sheadbands, and the tcrescents; ¹⁹the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves; ²⁰the uheaddresses, the armlets, the sashes, the perfume boxes, and the amulets; ²¹the signet rings and vnose rings; ²²the wfestal robes, the mantles, the cloaks, and the handbags; ²³the mirrors, the linen garments, the turbans, and the veils.

²⁴Instead of xperfume there will be rottenness;

and instead of a ybelt, a rope;

and instead of zwell-set hair, abaldness;

and instead of a rich robe, a bskirt of sackcloth;

and cbranding instead of beauty.

²⁵Your men shall fall by the sword

and your mighty men in battle.

²⁶And dher gates shall lament and mourn;

empty, she shall esit on the ground.

¹fAnd seven women gshall take hold of fone man in that day, saying, “We will eat our own bread and wear our own clothes, only let us be called by your name; htake away our reproach.”

The Branch of the Lord Glorified

²In that day ithe branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious, and jthe fruit of the land shall be the pride and honor of the survivors of Israel. ³kAnd he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called lholy, everyone who has mbeen recorded for life in Jerusalem, ⁴when nthe Lord shall have washed away the filth of othe daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by pa spirit of burning.1 ⁵Then the Lord will create over the whole site of Mount Zion and over her assemblies qa cloud by day, and smoke and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for over all the glory there will be ra canopy. ⁶sThere will be a tbooth for shade by day from the heat, and ufor a refuge and a shelter from the storm and rain.