17 They eat the bread of wickedness
    and drink the wine of violence.(A)

Read full chapter

12 Your rich people are violent;(A)
    your inhabitants are liars(B)
    and their tongues speak deceitfully.(C)

Read full chapter

Do all these evildoers know nothing?(A)

They devour my people(B) as though eating bread;
    they never call on the Lord.(C)

Read full chapter

Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers(A) who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries(B) of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty.(C) You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves(D) in the day of slaughter.[a](E)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. James 5:5 Or yourselves as in a day of feasting

Seven Woes on the Teachers of the Law and the Pharisees

13 “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!(A) You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.(B)

Read full chapter

Her officials within her
    are roaring lions;(A)
her rulers are evening wolves,(B)
    who leave nothing for the morning.(C)

Read full chapter

This is what the Lord says:

“As for the prophets
    who lead my people astray,(A)
they proclaim ‘peace’(B)
    if they have something to eat,
but prepare to wage war against anyone
    who refuses to feed them.

Read full chapter

Hear this, you who trample the needy
    and do away with the poor(A) of the land,(B)

saying,

“When will the New Moon(C) be over
    that we may sell grain,
and the Sabbath be ended
    that we may market(D) wheat?”(E)
skimping on the measure,
    boosting the price
    and cheating(F) with dishonest scales,(G)
buying the poor(H) with silver
    and the needy for a pair of sandals,
    selling even the sweepings with the wheat.(I)

Read full chapter

25 There is a conspiracy(A) of her princes[a] within her like a roaring lion(B) tearing its prey; they devour people,(C) take treasures and precious things and make many widows(D) within her. 26 Her priests do violence to my law(E) and profane my holy things; they do not distinguish between the holy and the common;(F) they teach that there is no difference between the unclean and the clean;(G) and they shut their eyes to the keeping of my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned(H) among them.(I) 27 Her officials(J) within her are like wolves(K) tearing their prey; they shed blood and kill people(L) to make unjust gain.(M) 28 Her prophets whitewash(N) these deeds for them by false visions and lying divinations.(O) They say, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says’—when the Lord has not spoken.(P) 29 The people of the land practice extortion and commit robbery;(Q) they oppress the poor and needy and mistreat the foreigner,(R) denying them justice.(S)

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 22:25 Septuagint; Hebrew prophets

26 “Among my people are the wicked(A)
    who lie in wait(B) like men who snare birds
    and like those who set traps(C) to catch people.
27 Like cages full of birds,
    their houses are full of deceit;(D)
they have become rich(E) and powerful
28     and have grown fat(F) and sleek.
Their evil deeds have no limit;
    they do not seek justice.
They do not promote the case of the fatherless;(G)
    they do not defend the just cause of the poor.(H)

Read full chapter

17 Food gained by fraud tastes sweet,(A)
    but one ends up with a mouth full of gravel.(B)

Read full chapter

17     “Stolen water is sweet;
    food eaten in secret is delicious!(A)

Read full chapter

Like wild donkeys(A) in the desert,
    the poor go about their labor(B) of foraging food;
    the wasteland(C) provides food for their children.
They gather fodder(D) in the fields
    and glean in the vineyards(E) of the wicked.(F)

Read full chapter

Bible Gateway Recommends