Judgment on Arrogance and Oppression

8  The Lord has sent a word against Jacob,

and it will fall on Israel;

9  and all the people will know,

gEphraim and the inhabitants of Samaria,

who say in pride and in arrogance of heart:

10  “The bricks have fallen,

but we will build with dressed stones;

the sycamores have been cut down,

but we will put cedars in their place.”

11  But the Lord raises the adversaries of Rezin against him,

and stirs up his enemies.

12  hThe Syrians on the east and ithe Philistines on the west

devour Israel with open mouth.

jFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

13  The people kdid not turn to him who struck them,

nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.

14  So the Lord cut off from Israel lhead and tail,

palm branch and reed in one day—

15  mthe elder and honored man is the head,

and nthe prophet who teaches lies is the tail;

16  for those who guide this people have been leading them astray,

and those who are guided by them are swallowed up.

17  Therefore the Lord does not orejoice over their young men,

and has no compassion on their fatherless and widows;

for everyone is pgodless and an evildoer,

and every mouth speaks qfolly.6

jFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

18  For wickedness burns like ra fire;

it consumes briers and thorns;

it kindles the thickets of the forest,

and they roll upward in a column of smoke.

19  Through the wrath of the Lord of hosts

the land is scorched,

and sthe people are like fuel for the fire;

tno one spares another.

20  uThey slice meat on the right, but are still hungry,

and they devour on the left, but are not satisfied;

veach devours the flesh of his own arm,

21  Manasseh devours Ephraim, and Ephraim devours Manasseh;

together they are wagainst Judah.

xFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.

10 Woe to those who ydecree iniquitous decrees,

and the writers who zkeep writing oppression,

2  to turn aside the needy from justice

and ato rob the poor of my people of their right,

that widows may be their spoil,

and that they may make the fatherless their prey!

3  What will you do on bthe day of punishment,

in the ruin that will come cfrom afar?

To whom will you flee for help,

and where will you leave your wealth?

4  Nothing remains but to crouch among the prisoners

or fall among the slain.

dFor all this his anger has not turned away,

and his hand is stretched out still.