The Wickedness of Judah

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord has spoken: “Sons have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.

Ah, sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, offspring of evildoers, sons who deal corruptly! They have forsaken the Lord, they have despised the Holy One of Israel, they are utterly estranged.

If the Lord of hosts had not left us a few survivors, we should have been like Sodom, and become like Gomor′rah.

Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomor′rah!

“What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the Lord; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of he-goats.

“Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.

but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Therefore the Lord says, the Lord of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel: “Ah, I will vent my wrath on my enemies, and avenge myself on my foes.

But rebels and sinners shall be destroyed together, and those who forsake the Lord shall be consumed.

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it,

and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

Judgment Pronounced on Arrogance

O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.

Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust from before the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty.

The haughty looks of man shall be brought low, and the pride of men shall be humbled; and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

For the Lord of hosts has a day against all that is proud and lofty, against all that is lifted up and high;

And the haughtiness of man shall be humbled, and the pride of men shall be brought low; and the Lord alone will be exalted in that day.

And men shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.

to enter the caverns of the rocks and the clefts of the cliffs, from before the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth.

For, behold, the Lord, the Lord of hosts, is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah stay and staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water;

For Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen; because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord, defying his glorious presence.

The Lord has taken his place to contend, he stands to judge his people.

The Lord enters into judgment with the elders and princes of his people: “It is you who have devoured the vineyard, the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

What do you mean by crushing my people, by grinding the face of the poor?” says the Lord God of hosts.

The Lord said: Because the daughters of Zion are haughty and walk with outstretched necks, glancing wantonly with their eyes, mincing along as they go, tinkling with their feet;

the Lord will smite with a scab the heads of the daughters of Zion, and the Lord will lay bare their secret parts.