Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a descendant of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they have turned away backward.

Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire: your land, strangers devour it in your presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates: they are a trouble unto me; I am weary of bearing them.

And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you: yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.

If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land:

Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither does the cause of the widow come before them.

Therefore you have forsaken your people, the house of Jacob, because they are filled with customs from the east, and are soothsayers like the Philistines, and they make bargains with the children of aliens.

And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,

And upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up,

For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen: because their tongue and their deeds are against the LORD, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.

Moreover the LORD says, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with outstretched necks and wanton eyes, walking and tripping as they go, and making a jingling with their feet:

And the harp, and the lyre, the timbrel, and flute, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.

Therefore my people have gone into captivity, because they have no knowledge: and their honorable men are famished, and their multitude dried up with thirst.

Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!

Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mix strong drink:

Whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent, their horses' hoofs shall be counted like flint, and their wheels like a whirlwind.

Then said I, Lord, how long? And he answered, Until the cities are wasted without inhabitant, and the houses without man, and the land is utterly desolate,

And the LORD has removed men far away, and there are many forsaken places in the midst of the land.

But yet in it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be laid waste: as a terebinth tree, and as an oak, whose stump remains, when they are cut down: so the holy seed shall be its stump.

And it was told the house of David, saying, Syria is allied with Ephraim. And his heart was moved, and the heart of his people, as the trees of the forest are moved with the wind.

Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, who dwells in mount Zion.

And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that are mediums, and unto wizards that whisper, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? rather than the dead on behalf of the living?

The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with hewn stones: the sycamores are cut down, but we will replace them into cedars.

For the leaders of this people cause them to err; and they that are led by them are destroyed.

For he says, Are not my princes altogether kings?

And my hand has found as a nest the riches of the people: and as one gathers eggs that are left, have I gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the remnant of Israel, and such as are escaped of the house of Jacob, shall no more again lean upon him that struck them; but shall lean upon the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth.

They are gone over the pass: they have taken up their lodging at Geba; Ramah is afraid; Gibeah of Saul has fled.

How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how are you cut down to the ground, who did weaken the nations!

But you are cast out of your sepulcher like an abominable branch, and as the garment of those that are slain, thrust through with a sword, that go down to the stones of the pit; as a corpse trodden underfoot.

Wail, O gate; cry, O city; you, all of Philistia, are dissolved: for there shall come from the north a smoke, and none shall be alone in his appointed times.

Let my outcasts dwell with you, Moab; be a refuge to them from the face of the plunderer: for the extortioner is at an end, the destruction ceases, the oppressors are consumed out of the land.

Therefore shall Moab wail for Moab, everyone shall wail: for the foundations of Kirhareseth shall you mourn; surely they are stricken.

For the fields of Heshbon languish, and the vine of Sibmah: the lords of the nations have broken down its choicest vines, they have come even unto Jazer, they wandered through the wilderness: her branches are stretched out, they have gone over the sea.

The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.

Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counselors of Pharaoh give foolish counsel: how do you say unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?

Where are they? where are your wise men? and let them tell you now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts has purposed upon Egypt.

The princes of Zoan have become fools, the princes of Memphis are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the cornerstones of its tribes.

Therefore are my loins filled with pain: pangs have taken hold upon me, as the pangs of a woman that travails: I was bowed down at the hearing of it; I was dismayed at the seeing of it.

The burden concerning the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you are wholly gone up to the housetops?

You that are full of shoutings, a tumultuous city, a joyous city: your slain men are not slain with the sword, nor dead in battle.

All your rulers have fled together, they are captured by the archers: all that are found in you are bound together, who have fled from afar.

You have seen also the breaches of the city of David, that they are many: and you gathered together the waters of the lower pool.

Who has taken this counsel against Tyre, the crowning city, whose merchants are princes, whose traders are the honorable of the earth?

Therefore has the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell in it are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.

And it shall come to pass, that he who flees from the noise of the fear shall fall into the pit; and he that comes up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the exalted ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth upon the earth.

And they shall be gathered together, as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be punished.

O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you, I will praise your name; for you have done wonderful things; your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.

With my soul have I desired you in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek you early: for when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

They are dead, they shall not live; they are deceased, they shall not rise: therefore have you visited and destroyed them, and made all their memory to perish.

You have increased the nation, O LORD, you have increased the nation: you are glorified: you have enlarged all the borders of the land.

Has he struck him, as he struck those that struck him? or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that are slain by him?

By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit of taking away his sin; when he makes all the stones of the altar like chalkstones that are beaten to dust, the idol poles and incense altars shall not remain standing.

When its boughs are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will show them no favor.

Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which is on the head of the rich valleys of them that are overcome with wine!

But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up by wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.

For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.

Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and taken from the breasts.

Therefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people who are in Jerusalem.

Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with sheol are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:

Stop, and wonder; cry you out, and cry: they are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink.

Woe unto them that go the depths to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who sees us? and who knows us?

For the ruthless one is brought to nothing, and the scoffer is consumed, and all that watch for iniquity are cut off:

And therefore will the LORD wait, that he may be gracious unto you, and therefore will he be exalted, that he may have mercy upon you: for the LORD is a God of justice: blessed are all they that wait for him.

Behold, the name of the LORD comes from afar, burning with his anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: his lips are full of indignation, and his tongue like a devouring fire:

Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and rely on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!

Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helps shall fall, and he that is helped shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.

The schemes also of the schemer are evil: he devises wicked plans to destroy the poor with lying words, even when the needy speaks justly.

Rise up, you women that are at ease; hear my voice, you complacent daughters; give ear unto my speech.

Tremble, you women that are at ease; be troubled, you complacent ones: strip yourselves, and make yourselves bare, and gird sackcloth upon your waists.

Blessed are you that sow beside all waters, that send forth freely the feet of the ox and the donkey.

Hear, you that are afar off, what I have done; and, you that are near, acknowledge my might.

The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness has surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

Your tackle are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great plunder divided; the lame take the prey.

Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense; he will come and save you.

I say, you speak (but they are but vain words), I have counsel and strength for war: now on whom do you trust, that you rebel against me?

Then said Eliakim and Shebna and Joah unto Rabshakeh, Speak, I pray you, unto your servants in the Aramiac language; for we understand it; and speak not to us in the Jews' language, in the ears of the people that are on the wall.

Where are the gods of Hamath and Arpad? where are the gods of Sepharvaim? and have they delivered Samaria out of my hand?

Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the LORD should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?

O LORD of hosts, God of Israel, that dwells between the cherubim, you are the God, even you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth: you have made heaven and earth.

Now therefore, O LORD our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you are the LORD, even you only.

The grass withers, the flower fades: because the breath of the LORD blows upon it: surely the people are grass.

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.

Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he takes up the isles as fine dust.

All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and worthless.

It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in:

But you, Israel, are my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the descendant of Abraham my friend.

You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called you from its chief men, and said unto you, you are my servant; I have chosen you, and not cast you away.

Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods: yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together.

Behold, you are of nothing, and your work is nothing: an abomination is he that chooses you.

Behold, they are all worthless; their works are nothing: their molten images are wind and confusion.

They shall be turned back, they shall be greatly ashamed, that trust in graven images, that say to the molten images, you are our gods.

But this is a people robbed and plundered; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivers; for a spoil, and none says, Restore.

But now thus says the LORD that created you, O Jacob, and he that formed you, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name; you are mine.

You are my witnesses, says the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.

I have declared, and have saved, and I proclaimed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore you are my witnesses, says the LORD, that I am God.

Who brings forth the chariot and horse, the army and the power; they shall lie down together, they shall not rise: they are extinguished, they are quenched like a wick.