O My people! Children are their oppressors,
And women rule over them.
O My people! Your leaders lead you astray
And confuse (destroy, swallow up) the direction of your paths.

And I will make mere boys their princes,
And capricious (impulsive, unpredictable) children will rule over them.

And the people will be oppressed,
Each one by another, and each one by his neighbor;
The boy will be arrogant and insolent toward the elder
And the vulgar (common) toward the honorable [person of rank].

When a man takes hold of his brother in the house of his father, saying,
“You have a robe, you shall be our judge and ruler,
And this pile of ruins will be under your control,”

Their partiality testifies against them,
They display their sin like Sodom;
They do not even hide it.
Woe (judgment is coming) to them!
For they have brought evil on themselves [as a reward].

He will protest on that day, saying,
“I will not be a governor;
For in my house there is neither bread nor clothing;
You should not make me a judge and ruler of the people.”

For Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,
Because their words and their actions are against the Lord,
To rebel against His glorious presence and defiantly provoke Him.

Say to the righteous that it will go well with them,
For they will eat the fruit of their [righteous] actions.

Moreover, the Lord said, “Because the daughters of Zion are proud
And walk with outstretched necks and seductive (flirtatious, alluring) eyes,
And trip along with mincing steps and an affected gait
And walk with jingling anklets on their feet,

The Lord enters into judgment with the elders of His people and their princes,
“For it is you who have devoured the vineyard [with your oppression, you have robbed the people and ruined the country];
The plunder of the poor is in your houses.

Woe (judgment is coming) to the wicked! It shall go badly with him,
For what his hand has done shall be done to him.

Listen carefully, the Lord God of hosts is removing from Jerusalem and from Judah
Both supply and support, the whole supply of bread
And the whole supply of water;

The Lord rises to contend,
And stands to judge the people.

Therefore the Lord will afflict the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion with scabs [making them bald],
And the Lord will expose their foreheads (send them into captivity).”

“What do you mean by crushing My people
And grinding the face of the poor?”
Declares the Lord God of hosts.

head wraps (turbans), [short, jingling] ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets (charms),

In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, [braided] caps, crescent [head] ornaments,

dangling earrings, bracelets, and the hanging veils and scarves,

signet [finger] rings, nose rings,

Now it will come to pass that instead of the sweet fragrance of spices there will be [the stench of] rottenness;
Instead of a belt, a rope;
Instead of well-set hair, baldness;
Instead of fine clothes, a robe of sackcloth;
And branding [of captives by the scorching heat] instead of beauty.

festival robes, outer tunics, shawls, handbags,

The brave man and the warrior [He is also removing],
The judge and the prophet,
The diviner and the elder,

hand mirrors, [fine linen] undergarments, headbands, and veils [covering the entire body].

The captain of fifty and the man of honor,
The counselor and the expert artisan,
And the skillful enchanter.

Your men will fall by the sword
And your mighty men in battle.

And Jerusalem’s gates will lament (cry out in grief) and mourn [as those who wail for the dead];
And she, being ruined and desolate, will sit upon the ground.