They crushYour people,O LORD,And afflictYour heritage.
Do allthe workersof wickednessnot know,Who eatup my people[as] they eatbread,[And] do not callupon the Lord?
But for Your sakewe are killedalldaylong; We are consideredas sheepto be slaughtered.
Orhe will tearmy soullike a lion,Draggingme away,while thereis noneto deliver.
They saidin their heart,"Let us completelysubduethem." They have burnedallthe meetingplacesof Godin the land.
For they have devouredJacobAnd laidwastehis habitation.
"Whatdo you mean by crushingMy peopleAnd grindingthe faceof the poor?"Declaresthe LordGODof hosts.
"Nowtherefore, whatdo I have here,"declaresthe LORD,"seeing that My peoplehave been takenaway withoutcause?"[Again] the LORDdeclares,"Those who ruleover them howl,and My nameis continuallyblasphemedalldaylong.
"But your eyesand your heartAre [intent] onlyupon your own dishonestgain,And on sheddinginnocentbloodAnd on practicingoppressionand extortion."
"Becauseyou are glad,becauseyou are jubilant,O you who pillageMy heritage,Becauseyou skipaboutlike a threshingheiferAnd neighlike stallions,
"Nebuchadnezzarkingof Babylonhas devouredme [and] crushedme, He has setme down[like] an emptyvessel;He has swallowedme like a monster,He has filledhis stomachwith my delicacies;He has washedme away.
To defrauda manin his lawsuit--Of these things the Lorddoes not approve.
"They have treatedfatherand motherlightlywithin you. The alienthey have oppressedin your midst;the fatherlessand the widowthey have wrongedin you.
"And I will grant[authority] to my twowitnesses,and they will prophesyfor twelvehundredand sixtydays,clothedin sackcloth."
And I sawthe womandrunkwith the bloodof the saints,and with the bloodof the witnessesof Jesus.When I sawher, I wonderedgreatly.
