Thus says the Lord of Hosts: The Israelites and the Judahites were oppressed together; and all who took them as captives held them fast; they refused to let them go.
I was angry with My people; I have polluted My inheritance and given them into your hand. You did not show them mercy; on the aged you have laid your yoke very heavily.
But I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to you, “Lie down that we may walk over you.” And you have laid your back as the ground and as the street for those who walk on it.
Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke?
All who found them have devoured them, and their adversaries said, “We are not guilty, because they have sinned against the Lord, the habitation of justice, even the Lord, the hope of their fathers.”