²⁰ Declare this in the house of Jacob;
    proclaim it in Judah:
²¹ “Hear this, ^(A)O foolish and senseless people,
    ^(B)who have eyes, but see not,
    who have ears, but hear not.
^22 (C)Do you not fear me? declares the Lord.
    Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand ^(D)as the boundary for the sea,
    a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
    though ^(E)they roar, they cannot pass over it.
^23 (F)But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart;
    they have turned aside and gone away.
²⁴ They do not say in their hearts,
    ‘Let us fear the Lord our God,
^(G)who gives the rain in its season,
    the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
    ^(H)the weeks appointed for the harvest.’
^25 (I)Your iniquities have turned these away,
    and your sins have kept good from you.
²⁶ For wicked men are found among my people;
    ^(J)they lurk like fowlers lying in wait.^[a]
(K)They set a trap;
    they catch men.
²⁷ Like a cage full of birds,
    their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich;
^{28     (L)}they have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil;
    ^(M)they judge not with justice
the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,
    and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
^29 (N)Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord,
    and shall I not avenge myself
    on a nation such as this?”

³⁰ An appalling and ^(O)horrible thing
    has happened in the land:
^31 (P)the prophets prophesy falsely,
    and the priests rule at their direction;
^(Q)my people love to have it so,
    but what will you do when the end comes?

^(I)“In a favorable time I listened to you,
    and in a day of salvation I have helped you.”

^(AQ)“I will make my dwelling among them and ^(AR)walk among them,
    and ^(AS)I will be their God,
    and they shall be my people.
¹⁷ Therefore ^(AT)go out from their midst,
    and be separate from them, says the Lord,
and touch no unclean thing;
    then I will welcome you,
^18 (AU)and I will be a father to you,
    and you shall be sons and daughters to me,
says the Lord Almighty.”

⁶ For thus says the Lord of hosts:
^(J)“Cut down her trees;
    ^(K)cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be ^(L)punished;
    there is nothing but oppression within her.
^7 (M)As a well keeps its water fresh,
    so she keeps fresh her evil;
^(N)violence and destruction are heard within her;
    sickness and wounds are ever before me.
⁸ Be warned, O Jerusalem,
    ^(O)lest I turn from you in disgust,
lest I make you ^(P)a desolation,
    an uninhabited land.”

⁹ Thus says the Lord of hosts:
^(Q)“They shall glean thoroughly as a vine
    the remnant of Israel;
like a grape gatherer pass your hand again
    over its branches.”
^10 (R)To whom shall I speak and give warning,
    that they may hear?
^(S)Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
    ^(T)they cannot listen;
behold, ^(U)the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
    they take no pleasure in it.
¹¹ Therefore I am full of the wrath of the Lord;
    ^(V)I am weary of holding it in.
^(W)“Pour it out upon the children in the street,
    and upon the gatherings of young men, also;
^(X)both husband and wife ^(Y)shall be taken,
    the elderly and the very aged.
^12 (Z)Their houses shall be turned over to others,
    their fields and wives together,
for I will stretch out my hand
    against the inhabitants of the land,”
declares the Lord.
^13 (AA)“For from the least to the greatest of them,
    everyone ^(AB)is greedy for unjust gain;
and from ^(AC)prophet to priest,
    everyone deals falsely.
¹⁴ They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
    saying, ^(AD)‘Peace, peace,’
    ^(AE)when there is no peace.
^15 (AF)Were they ashamed when they committed abomination?
    No, they were not at all ashamed;
    they did not know how to blush.
Therefore they shall fall among those who fall;
    ^(AG)at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,”
says the Lord.

¹⁶ Thus says the Lord:
“Stand by the roads, and look,
    and ask for ^(AH)the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
    ^(AI)and find rest for your souls.
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
^17 (AJ)I set watchmen over you, saying,
    ‘Pay attention to ^(AK)the sound of the trumpet!’
But they said, ^(AL)‘We will not pay attention.’
¹⁸ Therefore hear, O nations,
    and know, O congregation, what will happen to them.
¹⁹ Hear, O earth; behold, I am bringing disaster upon this people,
    ^(AM)the fruit of their devices,
because they have not paid attention to my words;
    and as for my law, they have rejected it.
^20 (AN)What use to me is ^(AO)frankincense that comes from ^(AP)Sheba,
    or sweet cane from a distant land?
^(AQ)Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
    nor your sacrifices pleasing to me.
²¹ Therefore thus says the Lord:
^(AR)‘Behold, I will lay before this people
    stumbling blocks against which they shall stumble;
fathers and sons together,
    neighbor and friend shall perish.’”