The Destruction of the Wicked

9 The voice of Yahweh calls to the city

(it is sound judgment to fear your name):

“Hear, O staff!b Now who has appointed it?

10 Is there any longer a man in the house of the wicked

treasures of wickedness,

and the ephah of scarcity which is accursed?c

11 Shall I regard as pure the one with scales of wickedness,

and with a bag of deceitful weights?

12 Because her rich are full of violence,

and her inhabitants speak lies,

and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

13 And I also ⌊have made you sick by striking you down⌋,d

making you desolate because of your sins.

14 You yourself will eat but not be satisfied;

your hunger will be in your midst,

and you will put away, but you will not save,

and what you save I will hand over to the sword.

15 You yourself will sow, but you will not reap;

you will tread olives, but you will not anoint yourself with oil;

you will tread grapes, but you will not drink wine.

16 For you have observed the regulations of Omri

and all the works of the house of Ahab.

And you have walked in their counsels,

so that I am making you a desolation

and your inhabitants an object of scorn.

So you will bear the scorn of my people.

Wait Upon Yahweh

7 Woe is me! For I have become

like the gatherings of summer,

like the gleanings of the grape harvest,

when there is no cluster of grapes to eat

or early ripened fruit that my soul desires.

2 The faithful person has perished from the land,

and there is none who is upright among humankind.

All of them lie in wait for blood;

each hunts his brother with a net.

3 Their hands are upon evil, to do it well;

the official and the judge ask for the bribe,

and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;

and they weave it together.

4 The best of them is like a brier;

the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.

The day of your watchman, your punishment, has come;

now their confusion will come.

5 Do not put faith in a friend;

put no trust in a close friend.

Guard the doorways of your mouth

from the one who lies in your lap.

6 For a son treats a father with contempt;

a daughter rises up against her mother,

a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

the enemies of a man are the men of his own house.

7 But as for me, I will look to Yahweh;

I will wait for the God of my salvation.

My God will hear me.