Your rulers are rebels,
friends of thieves.
They all love graft
and chase after bribes.
They do not defend the rights of the fatherless,
and the widow’s case never comes before them.

For this is how it will be on earth
among the nations:
like a harvested olive tree,
like a gleaning after a grape harvest.

They will be gathered together
like prisoners in a pit.
They will be confined to a dungeon;
after many days they will be punished.

For he says: “Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there.”

Then the word of the Lord came to them:
“Law after law, law after law,
line after line, line after line,
a little here, a little there,”
so they go stumbling backward,
to be broken, trapped, and captured.

Woe to Ariel, Ariel,
the city where David camped!
Continue year after year;
let the festivals recur.

therefore I will again confound these people
with wonder after wonder.
The wisdom of their wise men will vanish,
and the understanding of the perceptive will be hidden.

The humble will have joy
after joy in the Lord,
and the poor people will rejoice
in the Holy One of Israel.

A poem by Hezekiah king of Judah after he had been sick and had recovered from his illness:

“You are My witnesses”—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
“and My servant whom I have chosen,
so that you may know and believe Me
and understand that I am He.
No god was formed before Me,
and there will be none after Me.

For they are named after the Holy City,
and lean on the God of Israel;
His name is Yahweh of Hosts.

They seek Me day after day
and delight to know My ways,
like a nation that does what is right
and does not abandon the justice of their God.
They ask Me for righteous judgments;
they delight in the nearness of God.”

Their feet run after evil,
and they rush to shed innocent blood.
Their thoughts are sinful thoughts;
ruin and wretchedness are in their paths.

Lord, after all this, will You restrain Yourself?
Will You keep silent and afflict severely?