¹⁶ What sorrow for the land ruled by a servant,^[a]
    the land whose leaders feast in the morning.

¹² Childish leaders oppress my people,
    and women rule over them.
O my people, your leaders mislead you;
    they send you down the wrong road.

¹¹ What sorrow for those who get up early in the morning
    looking for a drink of alcohol
and spend long evenings drinking wine
    to make themselves flaming drunk.
¹² They furnish wine and lovely music at their grand parties—
    lyre and harp, tambourine and flute—
but they never think about the Lord
    or notice what he is doing.

⁴ I will make boys their leaders,
    and toddlers their rulers.
⁵ People will oppress each other—
    man against man,
    neighbor against neighbor.
Young people will insult their elders,
    and vulgar people will sneer at the honorable.

20 Wine produces mockers; alcohol leads to brawls.
    Those led astray by drink cannot be wise.

² The king’s fury is like a lion’s roar;
    to rouse his anger is to risk your life.

“‘Give justice each morning to the people you judge!
    Help those who have been robbed;
    rescue them from their oppressors.
Otherwise, my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire
    because of all your sins.

⁵ On royal holidays, the princes get drunk with wine,
    carousing with those who mock them.
⁶ Their hearts are like an oven
    blazing with intrigue.
Their plot smolders^[a] through the night,
    and in the morning it breaks out like a raging fire.
⁷ Burning like an oven,
    they consume their leaders.
They kill their kings one after another,
    and no one cries to me for help.

⁷ Now, however, Israel is led by drunks
    who reel with wine and stagger with alcohol.
The priests and prophets stagger with alcohol
    and lose themselves in wine.
They reel when they see visions
    and stagger as they render decisions.
⁸ Their tables are covered with vomit;
    filth is everywhere.