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² Hear, heavens,
    and listen, earth,
        for Yahweh has spoken:
"I reared children
    and I brought them up,
        but they rebelled against me.
³ An ox knows its owner
    and a donkey the manger of its master.
Israel does not know;
    my people do not understand.
⁴ Ah, sinful nation,
    a people heavy with iniquity,
offspring of evildoers,
    children who deal corruptly.
They have forsaken Yahweh;
    they have despised the holy one of Israel.
        They are estranged and gone backward.
⁵ Why do you want to be beaten again?
    You continue in rebellion.
The whole of the head is sick,
    and the whole of the heart is faint.
⁶ From the sole of the foot and up to the head
    there is no health in it;
bruise and sore and bleeding wound have not been cleansed,
    and they have not been bound up
    and not softened with the oil.
⁷ Your country is desolate,
    your cities are burned with fire;
As for your land, aliens are devouring it in your presence,
    and it is desolate, like devastation by foreigners.
⁸ And the daughter of Zion is left like a booth in a vineyard,
    like a shelter in a cucumber field,
    like a city that is besieged.^[a]
9 If Yahweh of hosts had not left us survivors,^[b]
    we would have been as few as Sodom,
    we would have become like Gomorrah.
¹⁰ Hear the word of Yahweh, rulers of Sodom!
    Listen to the teaching of our God, people of Gomorrah!
¹¹ What is the abundance of your sacrifices to me? says Yahweh.
    I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
        and the fat of fattened animals
    and I do not delight in the blood of bulls
        and ram-lambs and goats.
¹² When you come to appear before me,
    who asked for this from your hand:
    you trampling my courts?
¹³ You must not continue^[c] to bring offerings^[d] of futility,
    incense—it is an abomination to me;
new moon and Sabbath, the calling of a convocation—
    I cannot endure iniquity with solemn assembly.
¹⁴ Your new moons and your appointed festivals my soul hates;
    they have become to me like a burden,
    I am not able to bear them.
¹⁵ And when you stretch out your hands,
    I will hide my eyes from you;
even though you make many prayers,^[e]
    I will not be listening.
Your hands are full of blood. ¹⁶ Wash! Make yourselves clean!
    Remove the evil of your doings from before my eyes!
Cease to do evil! ¹⁷ Learn to do good!
    Seek justice! Rescue the oppressed!
    Defend the orphan! Plead for the widow!
¹⁸ "Come now, and let us argue," says Yahweh.
    "Even though your sins are like scarlet, they will be white like snow;
    even though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.
¹⁹ If you are willing and you are obedient,
    you shall eat the good of the land.
²⁰ But if you refuse and you rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword.

²¹ How has a faithful city become like a whore?
    Full of justice, righteousness lodged in her, but now murderers.
²² Your silver has become as dross;
    Your wine is diluted with waters.
²³ Your princes are rebels
    and companions of thieves.
Every one loves a bribe
    and runs after gifts.
They do not defend the orphan
    and the legal dispute of the widow does not come before them.
²⁴ Therefore, the declaration of the Lord Yahweh of hosts, the Mighty One of Israel:
"Ah, I will be relieved of my enemies,
    and I will avenge myself on my foes.
²⁵ And I will turn my hand against you;
I will purify your dross like lye,
    and I will remove all of your tin.
²⁶ And I will restore your judges, as at the first,
    and your counselors, as at the beginning.
After this you will be called^[f] the city of righteousness,
    faithful city.
²⁷ Zion will be redeemed by justice,
    and those of her who repent, by righteousness.
²⁸ But the destruction of rebels and sinners shall be together,
    and those who forsake Yahweh will perish.
²⁹ For you^[g] will be ashamed of the oaks in which you delighted,
    and you will be disgraced because of the gardens that you have chosen.
³⁰ For you shall be like an oak withering its leaves,
    and like a garden where there is no water for her.
³¹ And the strong man shall become like tinder,
    and his work like a spark.
And both of them shall burn together,
    and there is not one to quench them."