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