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11 You trample the poor,
    stealing their grain through taxes and unfair rent.
Therefore, though you build beautiful stone houses,
    you will never live in them.
Though you plant lush vineyards,
    you will never drink wine from them.

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11 You levy a straw tax on the poor(A)
    and impose a tax on their grain.
Therefore, though you have built stone mansions,(B)
    you will not live in them;(C)
though you have planted lush vineyards,
    you will not drink their wine.(D)

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15 You will plant crops
    but not harvest them.
You will press your olives
    but not get enough oil to anoint yourselves.
You will trample the grapes
    but get no juice to make your wine.

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15 You will plant but not harvest;(A)
    you will press olives but not use the oil,
    you will crush grapes but not drink the wine.(B)

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13 So their property will be plundered,
    their homes will be ransacked.
They will build new homes
    but never live in them.
They will plant vineyards
    but never drink wine from them.

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13 Their wealth will be plundered,(A)
    their houses demolished.
Though they build houses,
    they will not live in them;
though they plant vineyards,
    they will not drink the wine.”(B)

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30 “You will be engaged to a woman, but another man will sleep with her. You will build a house, but someone else will live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will never enjoy its fruit.

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30 You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her.(A) You will build a house, but you will not live in it.(B) You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit.(C)

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But you dishonor the poor! Isn’t it the rich who oppress you and drag you into court?

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But you have dishonored the poor.(A) Is it not the rich who are exploiting you? Are they not the ones who are dragging you into court?(B)

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And their bodies will lie in the main street of Jerusalem,[a] the city that is figuratively called “Sodom” and “Egypt,” the city where their Lord was crucified. And for three and a half days, all peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will stare at their bodies. No one will be allowed to bury them. 10 All the people who belong to this world will gloat over them and give presents to each other to celebrate the death of the two prophets who had tormented them.

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Footnotes

  1. 11:8 Greek the great city.

Their bodies will lie in the public square of the great city(A)—which is figuratively called Sodom(B) and Egypt—where also their Lord was crucified.(C) For three and a half days some from every people, tribe, language and nation(D) will gaze on their bodies and refuse them burial.(E) 10 The inhabitants of the earth(F) will gloat over them and will celebrate by sending each other gifts,(G) because these two prophets had tormented those who live on the earth.

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You have planted much but harvest little. You eat but are not satisfied. You drink but are still thirsty. You put on clothes but cannot keep warm. Your wages disappear as though you were putting them in pockets filled with holes!

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You have planted much, but harvested little.(A) You eat, but never have enough.(B) You drink, but never have your fill.(C) You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages,(D) only to put them in a purse with holes in it.”

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Judgment against Israel’s Leaders

I said, “Listen, you leaders of Israel!
    You are supposed to know right from wrong,
but you are the very ones
    who hate good and love evil.
You skin my people alive
    and tear the flesh from their bones.
Yes, you eat my people’s flesh,
    strip off their skin,
    and break their bones.
You chop them up
    like meat for the cooking pot.

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Leaders and Prophets Rebuked

Then I said,

“Listen, you leaders(A) of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel.
Should you not embrace justice,
    you who hate good and love evil;
who tear the skin from my people
    and the flesh from their bones;(B)
who eat my people’s flesh,(C)
    strip off their skin
    and break their bones in pieces;(D)
who chop(E) them up like meat for the pan,
    like flesh for the pot?(F)

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When you want a piece of land,
    you find a way to seize it.
When you want someone’s house,
    you take it by fraud and violence.
You cheat a man of his property,
    stealing his family’s inheritance.

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They covet fields(A) and seize them,(B)
    and houses, and take them.
They defraud(C) people of their homes,
    they rob them of their inheritance.(D)

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15 And I will destroy the beautiful homes of the wealthy—
    their winter mansions and their summer houses, too—
all their palaces filled with ivory,”
    says the Lord.

Israel’s Failure to Learn

Listen to me, you fat cows[a]
    living in Samaria,
you women who oppress the poor
    and crush the needy,
and who are always calling to your husbands,
    “Bring us another drink!”

Footnotes

  1. 4:1 Hebrew you cows of Bashan.

15 I will tear down the winter house(A)
    along with the summer house;(B)
the houses adorned with ivory(C) will be destroyed
    and the mansions(D) will be demolished,(E)
declares the Lord.(F)

Israel Has Not Returned to God

Hear this word, you cows of Bashan(G) on Mount Samaria,(H)
    you women who oppress the poor(I) and crush the needy(J)
    and say to your husbands,(K) “Bring us some drinks!(L)

21 In those days people will live in the houses they build
    and eat the fruit of their own vineyards.
22 Unlike the past, invaders will not take their houses
    and confiscate their vineyards.
For my people will live as long as trees,
    and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains.

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21 They will build houses(A) and dwell in them;
    they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit.(B)
22 No longer will they build houses and others live in them,(C)
    or plant and others eat.
For as the days of a tree,(D)
    so will be the days(E) of my people;
my chosen(F) ones will long enjoy
    the work of their hands.

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13 We know we have rebelled and have denied the Lord.
    We have turned our backs on our God.
We know how unfair and oppressive we have been,
    carefully planning our deceitful lies.
14 Our courts oppose the righteous,
    and justice is nowhere to be found.
Truth stumbles in the streets,
    and honesty has been outlawed.

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13 rebellion(A) and treachery against the Lord,
    turning our backs(B) on our God,
inciting revolt and oppression,(C)
    uttering lies(D) our hearts have conceived.
14 So justice(E) is driven back,
    and righteousness(F) stands at a distance;
truth(G) has stumbled in the streets,
    honesty cannot enter.

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The nation of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
    The people of Judah are his pleasant garden.
He expected a crop of justice,
    but instead he found oppression.
He expected to find righteousness,
    but instead he heard cries of violence.

Judah’s Guilt and Judgment

What sorrow for you who buy up house after house and field after field,
    until everyone is evicted and you live alone in the land.

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The vineyard(A) of the Lord Almighty
    is the nation of Israel,
and the people of Judah
    are the vines he delighted in.
And he looked for justice,(B) but saw bloodshed;
    for righteousness,(C) but heard cries of distress.(D)

Woes and Judgments

Woe(E) to you who add house to house
    and join field to field(F)
till no space is left
    and you live alone in the land.

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