Hear the word of the LORD, ye rulers of Sodom; give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah.

I hate your new holidays and fastings, even from my very heart. I cannot away with such vanity and holding in of the people. They lay upon me as a burden, and I am weary of bearing them!

When you spread out your hands in prayer, I'll hide my eyes from you. Even though you pray repeatedly, I won't listen. Your hands are full of blood, your fingers drenched with iniquity."

"Please come, and let's reason together," implores the LORD. "Even though your sins are like scarlet, they'll be white like snow. Though they're like crimson, they'll become like wool.

If you're willing and obedient, you'll eat the best that the land produces;

but if you refuse and rebel, you'll be devoured by the sword, because the LORD has spoken."

Therefore this is what the Lord GOD of the Heavenly Armies, the one who is Israel's Mighty One, declares: "Now I'll get relief from his enemies and avenge myself on his foes.

“And I will turn My hand against you,
And will [thoroughly] purge away your dross as with lye
And remove all your tin (impurity).

Let me restore your judges as at the first, and your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you'll be called "The Righteous City' and "The Faithful City of Zion'.

They'll be ashamed of the oak trees that you desired; and you'll blush because of the gardens that you have chosen.

You'll be like an oak whose leaf is withering, like an unwatered garden.

And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

And the mean man is bowed down, and the great man is brought low: therefore forgive them not.

The lofty looks of man shall be brought low, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day.

For the day of the LORD of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.

For, lo, the Lord, Jehovah of Hosts, Is turning aside from Jerusalem, And from Judah, stay and staff, Every stay of bread, and every stay of water.

And the people will be crushed, every one by his neighbour; the young will be full of pride against the old, and those of low position will be lifted up against the noble.

When a man shall lay hold, on his brother of the house of his father, saying - Clothing, hast thou, Become thou our, ruler, This downfall, be under thy hand,

"But at that time, he'll protest! He'll say, "I won't be your healer. I have neither food nor clothing in my house! You're not going to make me a leader of the people!'

therefore the Lord will smite with a scab the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will lay bare their secret parts.

"At that time, seven women will cling tightly to one man and will make him this offer: "We'll provide our own bread. We'll provide our own clothes. Just let us marry you so we won't be stigmatized anymore.'"

"Now, let me tell you, won't you please, what I'm going to do to my vineyard. "I'm going to take away its protective hedge, and it will be devoured; I'll break down its wall, and it will be trampled.

And I will lay it waste: it shall not be pruned, nor digged; but there shall come up briers and thorns: I will also command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it.

Because the vineyard of Jehovah of Hosts Is the house of Israel, And the man of Judah His pleasant plant, And He waiteth for judgment, and lo, oppression, For righteousness, and lo, a cry.

Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth!

And the mean man shall be bowed down, and the great man brought low, and the eyes of the lofty shall be brought low;

Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

So the Lord is furious with his people; he lifts his hand and strikes them. The mountains shake, and corpses lie like manure in the middle of the streets. Despite all this, his anger does not subside, and his hand is ready to strike again.

And He lifted up an ensign to nations afar off, And hissed to it from the end of the earth, And lo, with haste, swift it cometh.

Their roaring shall be like a lion, they shall roar like young lions: yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and shall carry it away safe, and none shall deliver it.

And it howleth against it in that day as the howling of a sea, And it hath looked attentively to the land, And lo, darkness -- distress, And light hath been darkened by its abundance!

And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged.

Then I said, “Lord, how long?” And He answered,

“Until cities are devastated and without inhabitant,
And houses are without people
And the land is utterly desolate,

For the LORD shall take the men far away, so that the land shall lie waste.

"Let us go up against Judah and let us tear her apart, {and let us lay it open and so bring it unto ourselves}, and let us install the son of Tabeel [as] king in her midst."

Furthermore, Ephraim's head is Samaria, and Remaliah's son is its king. If all of you don't keep on believing, you'll never remain loyal.'"

Therefore the Lord Himself giveth to you a sign, Lo, the Virgin is conceiving, And is bringing forth a son, And hath called his name Immanuel,

He'll eat cheese and honey, when he knows enough to reject what's wrong and choose what's right.

As for all the hills that used to be cultivated with a hoe, you won't go there, because you'll fear iron briars and thorns. Nevertheless, those hills will be reserved as a pasture where cattle will feed and where sheep will graze."

Therefore, lo, the Lord is bringing up on them, The waters of the river, the mighty and the great, (The king of Asshur, and all his glory,) And it hath gone up over all its streams, And hath gone on over all its banks.

Then he will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel he'll also be a stone with which someone strikes himself, a rock one stumbles over, a trap and a snare to those who live in Jerusalem.

Many will stumble on them; They'll fall and be broken; They'll be snared and captured.

Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.

I'll wait for the LORD, who is hiding his face from the house of Jacob, and I'll put my trust in him.

Lo, I, and the children whom Jehovah hath given to me, Are for signs and for wonders in Israel, From Jehovah of Hosts, who is dwelling in Mount Zion.

To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.

"They'll pass through the land, while greatly distressed and hungry. When they are hungry, they'll become enraged, and they'll curse their king and their god. They'll turn their faces upwards,

And unto the land it looketh attentively, And lo, adversity and darkness! -- Dimness, distress, and thick darkness is driven away, But not the dimness for which she is in distress!

For unto us a child is born, and unto us a son is given. Upon his shoulders shall the kingdom lie, and he shall be called with his own name, "Wonderful, the giver of counsel, the mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of peace."

Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even forever. The zeal of L

that the Syrians shall lay hold upon them before, and the Philistines behind, and so devour Israel with open mouth. After all this, the wrath of the Lord shall not cease, but yet his hand shall be stretched out still.

Therefore the Lord cuts off head and tail [the highest and the lowest] from Israel,
Both [the high] palm branch and [the low] bulrush in one day.

That ye come not among the prisoners, or lie among the dead? After all this shall not the wrath of the LORD cease, but yet shall his hand be stretched out still.

Against an irreligious nation, will I send him, Yea against the people with whom I am wroth, will I command him, - To capture spoil And lay hold on prey, And cause them to be trodden down as the mire of the lanes.

For he has said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my knowledge, for I am wise: and I have taken away the limits of the peoples' lands, and the stores of their wealth have become mine; and I have made towns low in the dust, sending destruction on those living in them;

Behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, will lop the boughs with terror: and the high of stature shall be hewn down, and the lofty shall be brought low.

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.

And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

But they shall fly upon the shoulders of the Philistines toward the west; they shall spoil them of the east together: they shall lay their hand upon Edom and Moab; and the children of Ammon shall obey them.

Lo, God is my salvation, I trust, and fear not, For my strength and song is Jah Jehovah, And He is to me for salvation.

And they shall be in distress - Writhings and pains, shall lay hold, As a woman in childbirth, shall they be in pangs, - Everyone, at his neighbour, shall look in amazement, Faces of flames, their faces!

Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible.

I'll make people scarcer than pure gold, and mankind rarer than gold from Ophir.

Therefore I'll make the heavens tremble. The earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, at the time of his burning anger.

Lo, I am stirring up against them the Medes, Who silver esteem not, And gold -- they delight not in it.

Their bows will dash the young men to pieces; they'll show no pity on those not yet born, and their eyes will not spare children.

It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall shepherds make their flocks to lie down there.

But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.

Yea, the fir-trees rejoice at thee, and the cedars of Lebanon,'saying , Since thou art laid low, no hewer is come up against us.

Your splendor has been brought down to Sheol, as well as the sound of your stringed instruments. You lie on a bed of maggots, with a blanket of worms over you.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O day-star, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, that didst lay low the nations!

You said in your heart, "I'll ascend to heaven, above the stars of God. I'll erect my throne; I'll sit on the Mount of Assembly in the far reaches of the north;

I'll ascend above the tops of the clouds; I'll make myself like the Most High.'

All the kings of the nations, even all of them, lie in glory, every one in his own house.

But you have been thrown out of your grave like a shoot that is thrown away. You lie among the slain, among those who have been slashed by the sword, among those headed for the stones of the pit, as if you were a mangled corpse.

"And I'm going to make it a possession of the hedgehog pools of water and I'll sweep with the broom of destruction," declares the LORD of the Heavenly Armies.

And the firstborn of the poor shall feed, and the needy shall lie down in safety: and I will kill thy root with famine, and he shall slay thy remnant.

For the waters of Dimon are full of blood, for I will lay yet more upon Dimon: a lion upon them that are escaped of Moab, and upon that which remaineth of the land.

The burden of Damascus. Lo, Damascus is taken away from being a city, And it hath been a heap -- a ruin.

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

"And this shall happen: On that day, the glory of Jacob will be brought low, and the fat of his flesh will become lean.

At even-time, lo, terror, before morning it is not, This is the portion of our spoilers, And the lot of our plunderers!

All you inhabitants of the world, you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you'll see it. When a trumpet sounds, you'll hear it!

The burden of Egypt. Lo, Jehovah is riding on a swift thick cloud, And He hath entered Egypt, And moved have been the idols of Egypt at His presence, And the heart of Egypt melteth in its midst.

There will be no work for Egypt
Which head or tail, [high] palm branch or [low] bulrush, may do.

and the inhabitant of this isle hath said in that day -- Lo, thus is our trust, Whither we have fled for help, To be delivered from the king of Asshur, And how do we escape -- we?'

A hard revelation is told to me; the treacherous deals treacherously, and the destroyer destroys. Go up, Elam; lay siege, Media! I put an end to all of her sighing.

Arrange the table, lay out the carpet, eat and drink! Get up, you officers, smear oil on the shields!

And lo, this, the chariot of a man is coming, A couple of horsemen.' And he answereth and saith: 'Fallen, fallen hath Babylon, And all the graven images of her gods He hath broken to the earth.

O my downtrodden people, my wall! I'll tell you what I have heard from the LORD of the Heavenly Armies, the God of Israel."

And lo, joy and gladness, slaying of oxen, And slaughtering of sheep, Eating of flesh, and drinking of wine, Eat and drink, for to-morrow we die.

Lo, Jehovah is casting thee up and down, A casting up and down, O mighty one,

rolling you up tightly like a ball and throwing you into a large country. There you will die, and there your splendid chariots will lie. You're a disgrace to your master's house!

"At that time, I'll call for my servant, Hilkiah's son Eliakim,

and I'll clothe him with your robe and fasten your sash around him. I'll transfer your authority to him, and he'll be a father to those who live in Jerusalem and to the house of Judah.

And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.

I'll set him like a peg into a secure place; he will become a throne of honor to his father's house.

“So they will hang on him all the honor and glory [the complete responsibility] of his father’s house, offspring and issue [of the family, high and low], all the least of the articles, from the bowls to all the jars.