The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's feeding trough, but Israel doesn't know, and my people don't understand.

Therefore the Lord does not have pity on their young men, and has no compassion on their orphans and widows, because each of them was godless and an evildoer, and every mouth spoke folly. "Yet for all this, his anger has not turned away, and his hand is still stretched out, ready to strike.

"Does the ax exalt itself over the one who swings it? Or does the saw magnify itself in opposition to the one who wields it? As if a rod were to wield those who lift it, or as if a club were to brandish the one who is not wood!

The LORD has mixed within them a spirit of confusion; so they make Egypt stagger in all that it does, like a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.

Does he who plows for sowing plow all the time? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing his field?

When he has leveled its surface, he scatters caraway and sows cumin, doesn't he? He plants wheat in rows, barley in its designated place, and feed for livestock around its borders, doesn't he?

Yet he is also wise and can bring disaster; he does not take back his words, but will rise up against the house of those who practice evil and against anyone who assists people who work iniquity.

Don't you know? Haven't you heard? The LORD is the eternal God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not grow tired or weary; and his understanding cannot be fathomed.

You've seen many things, but you pay no attention. His ears are open, but he doesn't listen.

"I form light and create darkness, I make goodness and create disaster. I am the LORD, who does all these things.

Watch! If anyone does attack you, it will not be from me; whoever may attack you will fall because of you.

Why spend your money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in rich food.

"Look! You will call a nation that you do not know, and a nation that does not know you will run to you, because of the LORD your God, even the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you."

Blessed is the one who does this, and the person that holds it fast, who observes the Sabbath without profaning it, and restrains his hands from practicing any evil.

"So justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We wait for light, but look there is darkness; we wait for brightness, but we walk in deep darkness.

But you are our Father, even Abraham does not know us and Israel has not acknowledged us; you are he, O LORD, our Father, from long ago, "Our Redeemer' is your name.

"And there will no longer be in it a young boy who lives only a few days, or an old person who does not live out his days; for one who dies at a hundred years will be thought a mere youth, and one who falls short of a hundred years will be considered accursed.

Therefore I, too, will choose harsh treatment for them, and will bring upon them what they dread. For when I called, no one answered; when I spoke, they didn't listen; but they did what I consider to be evil, and chose what doesn't please me."