Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible




who build Zion with bloodshed
and Jerusalem with injustice.


Then I said: "Now listen, leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Aren't you supposed to know what is just? You hate good and love evil. You tear off the skin of people and [strip] their flesh from their bones. You eat the flesh of my people after you strip their skin from them and break their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a caldron." read more.
Then they will cry out to the Lord, but He will not answer them. He will hide His face from them at that time because of the crimes they have committed.

Then his wife Jezebel came to him and said to him, "Why are you so upset that you refuse to eat?" "Because I spoke to Naboth the Jezreelite," he replied. "I told him: Give me your vineyard for silver, or if you wish, I will give you a vineyard in its place. But he said, 'I won't give you my vineyard!' " Then his wife Jezebel said to him, "Now, exercise your royal power over Israel. Get up, eat some food, and be happy. [For] I will give you the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite." read more.
So she wrote letters in Ahab's name and sealed them with his seal. She sent the letters to the elders and nobles who lived with Naboth in his city. In the letters, she wrote: Proclaim a fast and seat Naboth at the head of the people. Then seat two wicked men opposite him and have them testify against him, saying, "You have cursed God and king!" Then take him out and stone him to death. The men of his city, the elders and nobles who lived in his city, did as Jezebel had commanded them, as was written in the letters she had sent them. They proclaimed a fast and seated Naboth at the head of the people. The two wicked men came in and sat opposite him. Then the wicked men testified against Naboth in the presence of the people, saying, "Naboth has cursed God and king!" So they took him outside the city and stoned him to death with stones.

Remove the wicked from the king’s presence,
and his throne will be established in righteousness.

Listen to this, leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert everything that is right, who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with injustice. Her leaders issue rulings for a bribe, her priests teach for payment, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean on the Lord, saying, "Isn't the Lord among us? No calamity will overtake us."


A wicked ruler over a helpless people
is like a roaring lion or a charging bear.

Listen to this, leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert everything that is right, who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with injustice. Her leaders issue rulings for a bribe, her priests teach for payment, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean on the Lord, saying, "Isn't the Lord among us? No calamity will overtake us." read more.
Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become ruins, and the hill of the temple mount will be a thicket.


who build Zion with bloodshed
and Jerusalem with injustice.

The vision concerning Judah and Jerusalem that Isaiah son of Amoz saw during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Listen, heavens, and pay attention, earth, for the Lord has spoken: "I have raised children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against Me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master's feeding-trough, [but] Israel does not know; My people do not understand." read more.
Oh-sinful nation, people weighed down with iniquity, brood of evildoers, depraved children! They have abandoned the Lord; they have despised the Holy One of Israel; they have turned their backs [on Him].

Roam through the streets of Jerusalem. Look and take note; search in her squares. If you find a single person, anyone who acts justly, who seeks to be faithful, then I will forgive her. When they say, "As the Lord lives," they are swearing falsely. Lord, don't Your eyes [look for] faithfulness? You have struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline. They made their faces harder than rock, and they refused to return. read more.
Then I thought: They are just the poor; they have played the fool. For they don't understand the way of the Lord, the justice of their God. I will go to the powerful and speak to them. Surely they know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God. However, these also had broken the yoke and torn off the fetters.

Yet I must travel today, tomorrow, and the next day, because it is not possible for a prophet to perish outside of Jerusalem! "Jerusalem, Jerusalem! The city who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!