⁴ Then I said, “These are only the poor;
    they have no sense;
^(H)for they do not know the way of the Lord,
    the justice of their God.
⁵ I will go to the great
    and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the Lord,
    the justice of their God.”
^(I)But they all alike had broken the yoke;
    they had burst the bonds.

⁶ Therefore ^(J)a lion from the forest shall strike them down;
    a ^(K)wolf from the desert shall devastate them.
^(L)A leopard is watching their cities;
    everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
    their ^(M)apostasies are great.

^7 (N)“How can I pardon you?
    Your children have forsaken me
    ^(O)and have sworn by those who are no gods.
^(P)When I fed them to the full,
    ^(Q)they committed adultery
    ^(R)and trooped to the houses of whores.
⁸ They were well-fed, lusty stallions,
    ^(S)each neighing ^(T)for his neighbor's wife.
^9 (U)Shall I not punish them for these things?
declares the Lord;
    and shall I not avenge myself
    on a nation such as this?

^10 (V)“Go up through her vine rows and destroy,
    ^(W)but make not a full end;
strip away her branches,
    for they are not the Lord's.
^11 (X)For the house of Israel and the house of Judah
    have been utterly treacherous to me,
declares the Lord.
¹² They have spoken falsely of the Lord
    and have said, ‘He will do nothing;
^(Y)no disaster will come upon us,
    ^(Z)nor shall we see sword or famine.
¹³ The prophets will become wind;
    the word is not in them.
Thus shall it be done to them!’”

²⁰ Declare this in the house of Jacob;
    proclaim it in Judah:
²¹ “Hear this, ^(AL)O foolish and senseless people,
    ^(AM)who have eyes, but see not,
    who have ears, but hear not.
^22 (AN)Do you not fear me? declares the Lord.
    Do you not tremble before me?
I placed the sand ^(AO)as the boundary for the sea,
    a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass;
though the waves toss, they cannot prevail;
    though ^(AP)they roar, they cannot pass over it.
^23 (AQ)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,
^(AR)who gives the rain in its season,
    the autumn rain and the spring rain,
and keeps for us
    ^(AS)the weeks appointed for the harvest.’
^25 (AT)Your iniquities have turned these away,
    and your sins have kept good from you.
²⁶ For wicked men are found among my people;
    ^(AU)they lurk like fowlers lying in wait.^[a]
(AV)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     (AW)}they have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil;
    ^(AX)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 (AY)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 ^(AZ)horrible thing
    has happened in the land:
^31 (BA)the prophets prophesy falsely,
    and the priests rule at their direction;
^(BB)my people love to have it so,
    but what will you do when the end comes?