JUDAH’S LEADERS JUDGED

3 Note this: The Lord God of Armies

is about to remove from Jerusalem and from Judah

every kind of security:

the entire supply of bread and water,

2 heroes and warriors,w

judges and prophets,

fortune-tellers and elders,

3 commanders of fifty and dignitaries,

counselors, cunning magicians,E and necromancers.F

4 “I will make youths their leaders,x

and unstable rulersG will govern them.”

5 The people will oppress one another,y

man against man, neighbor against neighbor;

the young will act arrogantly toward the old,

and the worthless toward the honorable.

6 A man will even seize his brother

in his father’s house, saying,

“You have a cloak—you be our leader!

This heap of rubble will be under your control.”

7 On that day he will cry out, saying,

“I’m not a healer.

I don’t even have food or clothing in my house.

Don’t make me the leader of the people!”

8 For Jerusalem has stumbled

and Judah has fallen

because they have spoken and acted against the Lord,z

defying his glorious presence.a

9 The look on their faces testifies against them,

and like Sodom,b they flaunt their sin;

they do not conceal it.

Woe to them,

for they have brought disaster on themselves.c

10 Tell the righteous that it will go well for them,

for they will eat the fruit of their labor.

11 Woe to the wicked—it will go badly for them,

for what they have done will be done to them.

12 Youths oppress my people,d

and women rule over them.

My people, your leaders mislead you;

they confuse the direction of your paths.e

13 The Lord rises to argue the case

and stands to judge the people.f

14 The Lord brings this charge

against the elders and leaders of his people:g

“You have devastated the vineyard.

The plunder from the poor is in your houses.h

15 Why do you crush my people

and grind the faces of the poor?”

This is the declaration

of the Lord God of Armies.