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17 Then I contended with the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this evil thing that you are doing, profaning the Sabbath day?(A)

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11 So I contended with the officials and said, “Why is the house of God forsaken?” And I gathered them together and set them in their stations.(A)

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25 And I contended with them and cursed them and beat some of the men and pulled out their hair, and I made them take an oath in the name of God, saying, “You shall not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons or for yourselves.(A)

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Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob
    and chiefs of the house of Israel,
who abhor justice
    and pervert all equity,(A)

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Wicked Rulers and Prophets

And I said:
Listen, you heads of Jacob
    and rulers of the house of Israel!
Should you not know justice?—(A)

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and say: Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah sitting on the throne of David—you, and your servants, and your people who enter these gates.(A) Thus says the Lord: Act with justice and righteousness and deliver from the hand of the oppressor anyone who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the alien, the orphan, and the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place.(B) For if you will indeed obey this word, then through the gates of this house shall enter kings who sit on the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses—they, their servants, and their people. But if you will not heed these words, I swear by myself, says the Lord, that this house shall become a desolation.(C) For thus says the Lord concerning the house of the king of Judah:

You are like Gilead to me,
    like the summit of Lebanon,
but I swear that I will make you a desert,
    uninhabited cities.(D)
I will prepare destroyers against you,
    all with their weapons;
they shall cut down your choicest cedars
    and cast them into the fire.(E)

And many nations will pass by this city, and all of them will say one to another, “Why has the Lord dealt in this way with that great city?”(F) And they will answer, “Because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord their God and worshiped other gods and served them.”(G)

10 Do not weep for him who is dead,
    nor bemoan him;
weep rather for him who goes away,
    for he shall return no more
    to see his native land.(H)

Message to the Sons of Josiah

11 For thus says the Lord concerning Shallum son of King Josiah of Judah, who succeeded his father Josiah and who went away from this place: He shall return here no more, 12 but in the place where they have carried him captive he shall die, and he shall never see this land again.

13 Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness
    and his upper rooms by injustice,
who makes his neighbors work for nothing
    and does not give them their wages,(I)
14 who says, “I will build myself a spacious house
    with large upper rooms,”
and who cuts out windows[a] for it,
    paneling it with cedar
    and painting it with vermilion.(J)
15 Are you a king
    because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
    and do justice and righteousness?
    Then it was well with him.(K)
16 He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
    then it was well.
Is not this to know me?
    says the Lord.(L)
17 But your eyes and heart
    are only on your dishonest gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
    and for practicing oppression and violence.(M)

18 Therefore thus says the Lord concerning King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah:

They shall not lament for him, saying,
    “Alas, my brother!” or “Alas, sister!”
They shall not lament for him, saying,
    “Alas, lord!” or “Alas, his majesty!”(N)
19 With the burial of a donkey he shall be buried:
    dragged off and thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem.(O)

20 Go up to Lebanon and cry out,
    and lift up your voice in Bashan;
cry out from Abarim,
    for all your lovers are crushed.(P)
21 I spoke to you in your prosperity,
    but you said, “I will not listen.”
This has been your way from your youth,
    for you have not obeyed my voice.(Q)
22 The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,
    and your lovers shall go into captivity;
then you will be ashamed and dismayed
    because of all your wickedness.(R)
23 O inhabitant of Lebanon,
    nested among the cedars,
how you will groan[b] when pangs come upon you,
    pain as of a woman in labor!

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Footnotes

  1. 22.14 Gk Vg Syr Tg: MT my windows
  2. 22.23 Gk Vg Syr: Heb will be pitied

18 Say to the king and the queen mother:
    “Take a lowly seat,
for your beautiful crown
    has come down from your head.”[a](A)

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Footnotes

  1. 13.18 Gk Syr Vg: Meaning of Heb uncertain

Let me go to the rich[a]
    and speak to them;
surely they know the way of the Lord,
    the law of their God.”
But they all alike had broken the yoke;
    they had burst the bonds.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 5.5 Or the great

10 Hear the word of the Lord,
    you rulers of Sodom!
Listen to the teaching of our God,
    you people of Gomorrah!(A)

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Those who forsake the law praise the wicked,
    but those who keep the law struggle against them.(A)

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Psalm 82

A Plea for Justice

A Psalm of Asaph.

God has taken his place in the divine council;
    in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:(A)
“How long will you judge unjustly
    and show partiality to the wicked? Selah(B)

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After thinking it over, I contended with the nobles and the officials; I said to them, “You are all taking interest from your own people.” And I called a great assembly to deal with them(A)

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