And I pleaded the matter against the magistrates, and said: Why have we forsaken the house of God? And I gathered them together, and I made them to stand in their places.
And I chid them, and laid my curse upon them. And I beat some of them, and shaved off their hair, and made them swear by God that they would not give their daughters to their sons, nor take their daughters for their sons, nor for themselves, saying:
I will go therefore to the great men and I will speak to them: for they known the way of the Lord, the judgement of their God. And, behold, these have together broken the yoke more and have burst the bonds.
And my heart thought with myself; and I rebuked the nobles and magistrates, and said to them: Do you every one exact usury of your brethren? And I gathered together a great assembly against them.
But the house of Israel provoked me in the desert: they walked not in my statutes and they cast away my judgments, which if a man do he shall live in them, and they grievously violated my sabbaths. I said therefore that I would pour out my indignation upon them in the desert and would consume them.