Isaiah 3:1–15

³For now the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts,

is taking away from Jerusalem and from Judah

support and staff—

all support of bread

and all support of water—^*

²warrior and soldier,

judge and prophet,

diviner and elder,^*

³captain of fifty

and dignitary,

counselor and skillful magician

and expert enchanter.

⁴And I will make youths their princes,

and children shall rule over them.^*

⁵The people will be oppressed,

everyone by another

and everyone by a neighbor;

the youth will be insolent to the elder

and the base to the honorable.^*

⁶Someone will seize a relative,

a member of the clan, saying,

“You have a cloak;

you shall be our leader,

and this heap of ruins

shall be under your rule.”^*

⁷But the other will cry out on that day, saying,

“I will not be a healer;

in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;

you shall not make me

leader of the people.”^*

⁸For Jerusalem has stumbled,

and Judah has fallen,

because their speech and their deeds are against the Lord,

defying his glorious presence.^*

⁹The look on their faces bears witness against them;

they proclaim their sin like Sodom;

they do not hide it.

Woe to them,

for they have brought evil on themselves.^*

¹⁰Tell the innocent how fortunate they are,

for they shall eat the fruit of their labors.^*

¹¹Woe to the guilty! How unfortunate they are,

for what their hands have done shall be done to them.^*

¹²My people—their oppressors extort them,

and creditors^g rule over them.

O my people, your leaders mislead you

and confuse the course of your paths.^*

¹³The Lord rises to argue his case;

he stands to judge the peoples.^*

¹⁴The 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.^*

¹⁵What do you mean by crushing my people,

by grinding the face of the poor? says the Lord God of hosts.^*