⁹ Hear this, you leaders of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel,
who despise justice
    and distort all that is right;^(A)

“Listen, you leaders^(A) of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel.
Should you not embrace justice,

“Though you are like Gilead^(K) to me,
    like the summit of Lebanon,^(L)
I will surely make you like a wasteland,^(M)
    like towns not inhabited.
⁷ I will send destroyers^(N) against you,
    each man with his weapons,
and they will cut^(O) up your fine cedar beams
    and throw them into the fire.^(P)

¹⁰ Do not weep for the dead^(S) king or mourn^(T) his loss;
    rather, weep bitterly for him who is exiled,
because he will never return^(U)
    nor see his native land again.

¹³ “Woe^(X) to him who builds^(Y) his palace by unrighteousness,
    his upper rooms by injustice,
making his own people work for nothing,
    not paying^(Z) them for their labor.
¹⁴ He says, ‘I will build myself a great palace^(AA)
    with spacious upper rooms.’
So he makes large windows in it,
    panels it with cedar^(AB)
    and decorates it in red.^(AC)

¹⁵ “Does it make you a king
    to have more and more cedar?
Did not your father have food and drink?
    He did what was right and just,^(AD)
    so all went well^(AE) with him.
¹⁶ He defended the cause of the poor and needy,^(AF)
    and so all went well.
Is that not what it means to know^(AG) me?”
    declares the Lord.
¹⁷ “But your eyes and your heart
    are set only on dishonest gain,^(AH)
on shedding innocent blood^(AI)
    and on oppression and extortion.”^(AJ)

“They will not mourn^(AK) for him:
    ‘Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!’
They will not mourn for him:
    ‘Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!’
¹⁹ He will have the burial^(AL) of a donkey—
    dragged away and thrown^(AM)
    outside the gates of Jerusalem.”

²⁰ “Go up to Lebanon and cry out,^(AN)
    let your voice be heard in Bashan,^(AO)
cry out from Abarim,^(AP)
    for all your allies^(AQ) are crushed.
²¹ I warned you when you felt secure,^(AR)
    but you said, ‘I will not listen!’
This has been your way from your youth;^(AS)
    you have not obeyed^(AT) me.
²² The wind^(AU) will drive all your shepherds^(AV) away,
    and your allies^(AW) will go into exile.
Then you will be ashamed and disgraced^(AX)
    because of all your wickedness.
²³ You who live in ‘Lebanon,^[b](AY)’
    who are nestled in cedar buildings,
how you will groan when pangs come upon you,
    pain^(AZ) like that of a woman in labor!

¹⁸ Say to the king^(A) and to the queen mother,^(B)
    “Come down from your thrones,
for your glorious crowns^(C)
    will fall from your heads.”

⁵ So I will go to the leaders^(A)
    and speak to them;
surely they know the way of the Lord,
    the requirements of their God.”
But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke
    and torn off the bonds.^(B)

¹⁰ Hear the word of the Lord,^(A)
    you rulers of Sodom;^(B)
listen to the instruction^(C) of our God,
    you people of Gomorrah!^(D)