²⁷ Like a cage filled with birds,
    their homes are filled with evil plots.
    And now they are great and rich.

“Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen!
    She has become a home for demons.
She is a hideout for every foul^[a] spirit,
    a hideout for every foul vulture
    and every foul and dreadful animal.^[b]

⁹ “What sorrow awaits you who build big houses
    with money gained dishonestly!
You believe your wealth will buy security,
    putting your family’s nest beyond the reach of danger.
¹⁰ But by the murders you committed,
    you have shamed your name and forfeited your lives.
¹¹ The very stones in the walls cry out against you,
    and the beams in the ceilings echo the complaint.

¹² The people of Maroth^[a] anxiously wait for relief,
    but only bitterness awaits them
as the Lord’s judgment reaches
    even to the gates of Jerusalem.

⁴ Listen to this, you who rob the poor
    and trample down the needy!
⁵ You can’t wait for the Sabbath day to be over
    and the religious festivals to end
    so you can get back to cheating the helpless.
You measure out grain with dishonest measures
    and cheat the buyer with dishonest scales.^[a]
6 And you mix the grain you sell
    with chaff swept from the floor.
Then you enslave poor people
    for one piece of silver or a pair of sandals.

⁷ But no, the people are like crafty merchants
    selling from dishonest scales—
    they love to cheat.
⁸ Israel boasts, “I am rich!
    I’ve made a fortune all by myself!
No one has caught me cheating!
    My record is spotless!”

⁶ They pile lie upon lie
    and utterly refuse to acknowledge me,”
    says the Lord.

¹¹ They may say, “Come and join us.
    Let’s hide and kill someone!
    Just for fun, let’s ambush the innocent!
¹² Let’s swallow them alive, like the grave^[a];
    let’s swallow them whole, like those who go down to the pit of death.
¹³ Think of the great things we’ll get!
    We’ll fill our houses with all the stuff we take.