⁴ “I will make mere youths their officials;
    children will rule over them.”^(K)

⁵ People will oppress each other—
    man against man, neighbor against neighbor.^(L)
The young will rise up against the old,
    the nobody against the honored.

⁶ A man will seize one of his brothers
    in his father’s house, and say,
“You have a cloak, you be our leader;
    take charge of this heap of ruins!”
⁷ But in that day^(M) he will cry out,
    “I have no remedy.^(N)
I have no food^(O) or clothing in my house;
    do not make me the leader of the people.”^(P)

⁸ Jerusalem staggers,
    Judah is falling;^(Q)
their words^(R) and deeds^(S) are against the Lord,
    defying^(T) his glorious presence.
⁹ The look on their faces testifies^(U) against them;
    they parade their sin like Sodom;^(V)
    they do not hide it.
Woe to them!
    They have brought disaster^(W) upon themselves.

¹⁰ Tell the righteous it will be well^(X) with them,
    for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.^(Y)
11 Woe to the wicked!^(Z)
    Disaster^(AA) is upon them!
They will be paid back^(AB)
    for what their hands have done.^(AC)

¹² Youths^(AD) oppress my people,
    women rule over them.
My people, your guides lead you astray;^(AE)
    they turn you from the path.

¹³ The Lord takes his place in court;^(AF)
    he rises to judge^(AG) the people.
¹⁴ The Lord enters into judgment^(AH)
    against the elders and leaders of his people:
“It is you who have ruined my vineyard;
    the plunder^(AI) from the poor^(AJ) is in your houses.
¹⁵ What do you mean by crushing my people^(AK)
    and grinding^(AL) the faces of the poor?”^(AM)
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.^(AN)

¹⁶ The Lord says,
    “The women of Zion^(AO) are haughty,
walking along with outstretched necks,^(AP)
    flirting with their eyes,
strutting along with swaying hips,
    with ornaments jingling on their ankles.
¹⁷ Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion;
    the Lord will make their scalps bald.^(AQ)”

²⁴ Instead of fragrance^(BA) there will be a stench;^(BB)
    instead of a sash,^(BC) a rope;
instead of well-dressed hair, baldness;^(BD)
    instead of fine clothing, sackcloth;^(BE)
    instead of beauty,^(BF) branding.^(BG)
25 Your men will fall by the sword,^(BH)
    your warriors in battle.^(BI)
26 The gates^(BJ) of Zion will lament and mourn;^(BK)
    destitute,^(BL) she will sit on the ground.^(BM)

³² In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;^(A)
    in spite of his wonders,^(B) they did not believe.^(C)
33 So he ended their days in futility^(D)
    and their years in terror.
³⁴ Whenever God slew them, they would seek^(E) him;
    they eagerly turned to him again.
³⁵ They remembered that God was their Rock,^(F)
    that God Most High was their Redeemer.^(G)
36 But then they would flatter him with their mouths,^(H)
    lying to him with their tongues;
³⁷ their hearts were not loyal^(I) to him,
    they were not faithful to his covenant.
³⁸ Yet he was merciful;^(J)
    he forgave^(K) their iniquities^(L)
    and did not destroy them.
Time after time he restrained his anger^(M)
    and did not stir up his full wrath.
³⁹ He remembered that they were but flesh,^(N)
    a passing breeze^(O) that does not return.

⁴⁰ How often they rebelled^(P) against him in the wilderness^(Q)
    and grieved him^(R) in the wasteland!
⁴¹ Again and again they put God to the test;^(S)
    they vexed the Holy One of Israel.^(T)
42 They did not remember^(U) his power—
    the day he redeemed them from the oppressor,^(V)
43 the day he displayed his signs^(W) in Egypt,
    his wonders^(X) in the region of Zoan.
⁴⁴ He turned their river into blood;^(Y)
    they could not drink from their streams.
⁴⁵ He sent swarms of flies^(Z) that devoured them,
    and frogs^(AA) that devastated them.
⁴⁶ He gave their crops to the grasshopper,^(AB)
    their produce to the locust.^(AC)
47 He destroyed their vines with hail^(AD)
    and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
⁴⁸ He gave over their cattle to the hail,
    their livestock^(AE) to bolts of lightning.
⁴⁹ He unleashed against them his hot anger,^(AF)
    his wrath, indignation and hostility—
    a band of destroying angels.^(AG)
50 He prepared a path for his anger;
    he did not spare them from death
    but gave them over to the plague.
⁵¹ He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt,^(AH)
    the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.^(AI)
52 But he brought his people out like a flock;^(AJ)
    he led them like sheep through the wilderness.
⁵³ He guided them safely, so they were unafraid;
    but the sea engulfed^(AK) their enemies.^(AL)
54 And so he brought them to the border of his holy land,
    to the hill country his right hand^(AM) had taken.
⁵⁵ He drove out nations^(AN) before them
    and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance;^(AO)
    he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.