3 For behold, the Lord ^[a]God of hosts is going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah
Both ^[b]supply and support, the whole ^[c]supply of bread
And the whole ^[d]supply of water;
² The mighty man and the warrior,
The judge and the prophet,
The diviner and the elder,
³ The captain of fifty and the honorable man,
The counselor and the expert artisan,
And the skillful enchanter.
⁴ And I will make mere lads their princes,
And ^[e]capricious children will rule over them,
⁵ And the people will be oppressed,
Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor;
The youth will storm against the elder
And the inferior against the honorable.
⁶ When a man lays hold of his brother in his father’s house, saying,
“You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler,
And these ruins will be under your ^[f]charge,”
⁷ He will ^[g]protest on that day, saying,
“I will not be your ^[h]healer,
For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;
You should not appoint me ruler of the people.”
⁸ For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,
Because their ^[i]speech and their actions are against the Lord,
To rebel against ^[j]His glorious presence.
^9 [k]The expression of their faces bears witness against them,
And they display their sin like Sodom;
They do not even conceal it.
Woe to ^[l]them!
For they have brought evil on themselves.
¹⁰ Say to the righteous that it will go well with them,
For they will eat the fruit of their actions.
¹¹ Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him,
For ^[m]what he deserves will be done to him.
¹² O My people! Their oppressors ^[n]are children,
And women rule over them.
O My people! Those who guide you lead you astray
And confuse the direction of your paths.

¹³ The Lord arises to contend,
And stands to judge the people.
¹⁴ The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of His people,
“It is you who have devoured the vineyard;
The plunder of the poor is in your houses.
¹⁵ “What do you mean by crushing My people
And grinding the face of the poor?”
Declares the Lord ^[o]God of hosts.

¹⁶ Moreover, the Lord said, “Because the daughters of Zion are proud
And walk with ^[p]heads held high and seductive eyes,
And go along with mincing steps
And tinkle the bangles on their feet,
¹⁷ Therefore the Lord will afflict the scalp of the daughters of Zion with scabs,
And the Lord will make their foreheads bare.”

²⁴ Now it will come about that instead of ^[r]sweet perfume there will be putrefaction;
Instead of a belt, a rope;
Instead of well-set hair, a plucked-out scalp;
Instead of fine clothes, a donning of sackcloth;
And branding instead of beauty.
²⁵ Your men will fall by the sword
And your ^[s]mighty ones in battle.
²⁶ And her ^[t]gates will lament and mourn,
And deserted she will sit on the ground.