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?