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God Will Remove the Leaders

¹ Listen carefully, the Lord GOD of hosts ^(C1)is removing from Jerusalem and from Judah
Both supply and support, the whole supply of bread
And the whole supply of water;

^2 (C1)The brave man and the warrior He is also removing,
The judge and the prophet,
The diviner and the elder,

³ The captain of fifty and the man of honor,
The counselor and the expert artisan,
And the skillful enchanter.

⁴ And I will make mere ^(C1)boys their princes,
And capricious (impulsive, unpredictable) children will rule over them.

⁵ And the people will be ^(C1)oppressed,
Each one by another, and each one by his ^(C2)neighbor;
The boy will be arrogant and insolent toward the elder
And the vulgar (common) toward the honorable person of rank.

⁶ When a man ^(C1)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,"

⁷ He will protest on that day, saying,
"I will not be a ^(F1)(C1)governor;
For in my house there is neither bread nor clothing;
You should not make me a judge and ruler of the people."

⁸ For ^(C1)Jerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,
Because their ^(C2)words and their actions are against the LORD,
To ^(C3)rebel against His glorious presence and defiantly provoke Him.

⁹ Their partiality testifies against them,
They display their sin like ^(C1)Sodom;
They do not even hide it.
Woe (judgment is coming) to ^(F1)them!
For they have ^(C2)brought evil on themselves as a reward.

¹⁰ Say to the ^(C1)righteous that it will go well with them,
For they will eat the fruit of their righteous actions.

¹¹ Woe (judgment is coming) to the wicked! It shall go badly with him,
For ^(C1)what his hand has done shall be done to him.

¹² O My people! ^(C1)Children are their oppressors,
And women rule over them.
O My people! Your ^(C2)leaders lead you astray
And confuse (destroy, swallow up) the direction of your paths.

God Will Judge

^13 (C1)The LORD rises to contend,
And stands to judge the people.

¹⁴ The LORD ^(C1)enters into judgment with the elders of His people and their princes,
"For it is you who have ^(C2)devoured the vineyard with your oppression, you have robbed the people and ruined the country;
The ^(C3)plunder of the poor is in your houses.

¹⁵ "What do you mean by ^(C1)crushing My people
And grinding the face of the poor?"
Declares the Lord GOD of hosts.

Judah's Women Denounced

¹⁶ Moreover, the LORD said, "Because the ^(C1)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 ^(F1)anklets on their feet,

¹⁷ 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)."

²⁴ Now it will come to pass that instead of the sweet ^(C1)fragrance of spices there will be the stench of rottenness;
Instead of a belt, a rope;
Instead of ^(C2)well-set hair, ^(C3)baldness;
Instead of fine clothes, a ^(C4)robe of sackcloth;
And branding of captives by the scorching heat instead of beauty.

²⁵ Your men will ^(C1)fall by the sword
And your mighty men in battle.

²⁶ And Jerusalem's ^(C1)gates will lament (cry out in grief) and mourn as those who wail for the dead;
And she, being ruined and desolate, will ^(C2)sit upon the ground.