The godly man has perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
They have prepared a net for my steps; my soul is bowed down: they have dug a pit before me, into the midst of which they are fallen themselves. Selah.
And the people shall be oppressed, everyone by another, and everyone by his neighbor: the child shall behave himself proudly against the elder, and the base against the honorable.
The righteous perishes, and no man lays it to heart: and merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come.
Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
Behold, I will send for many fishermen, says the LORD, and they shall catch them; and afterward will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.
I hearkened and heard, but they spoke not aright: no man repented himself of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? everyone turned to his own course, as the horse rushes into the battle.
In you have they taken bribes to shed blood; you have taken interest and increase, and you have greedily gained from your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten me, says the Lord GOD.
Therefore thus says the Lord GOD; Woe to the bloody city, to the pot whose scum is in it, and whose scum has not gone out of it! bring it out piece by piece; let no lot fall upon it.
Hear you this, O priests; and hearken, you house of Israel; and give you ear, O house of the king; for judgment is for you, because you have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.
For I will no more pity the inhabitants of the land, says the LORD: but, lo, I will deliver the men every one into his neighbor's hand, and into the hand of his king: and they shall strike the land, and out of their hand I will not deliver them.
Moreover, my father, see, yea, see the skirt of your robe in my hand: for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe, and killed you not, know you and see that there is neither evil nor transgression in my hand, and I have not sinned against you; yet you hunt my soul to take it.
Now therefore, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of the LORD: for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one does hunt a partridge in the mountains.