Ah! Sinful nation, people laden with wickedness, evil offspring, corrupt children! They have forsaken the Lord, spurned the Holy One of Israel, apostatized,
So for them the word of the Lord shall be: “Command on command, command on command, Rule on rule, rule on rule, here a little, there a little!” So that when they walk, they shall stumble backward, broken, ensnared, and captured.
The Egyptians are human beings, not God, their horses flesh, not spirit; When the Lord stretches forth his hand, the helper shall stumble, the one helped shall fall, and both of them shall perish together.
I will pronounce my sentence against them for all their wickedness in forsaking me, In burning incense to other gods, in bowing down to the works of their hands.
I will smash them against each other, parents and children together—oracle of the Lord—showing no compassion, I will neither spare nor pity, but I will destroy them.
Two evils my people have done: they have forsaken me, the source of living waters; They have dug themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
Your own wickedness chastises you, your own infidelities punish you. Know then, and see, how evil and bitter is your forsaking the Lord, your God, And your showing no fear of me, oracle of the Lord, the God of hosts.
I say I will not mention him, I will no longer speak in his name. But then it is as if fire is burning in my heart, imprisoned in my bones; I grow weary holding back, I cannot!
The Lord could no longer bear the evil of your deeds, the abominations you were doing; then your land became a waste, a horror, a curse, without even one inhabitant, as it is today.
But the wrath of the Lord brims up within me, I am weary of holding it in. I will pour it out upon the child in the street, upon the young men gathered together. Yes, husband and wife will be taken, elder with ancient.
Their houses will fall to others, their fields and their wives as well; For I will stretch forth my hand against those who dwell in the land—oracle of the Lord.
But they did not listen to me, nor did they pay attention. They walked in the stubbornness of their evil hearts and turned their backs, not their faces, to me.
As for the prophet, if he speaks a deceiving word, I the Lord am the one who deceives that prophet. I will stretch out my hand against him and destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
therefore, see, I am stretching out my hand against you and giving you up as plunder to the nations. I will cut you off from the peoples and wipe you out of the lands. I will destroy you, and you shall know that I am the Lord. Against Moab.
Shall I deliver them from the power of Sheol? shall I redeem them from death? Where are your plagues, O death! where is your sting, Sheol! Compassion is hidden from my eyes.
I will stretch out my hand against Judah, and against all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; I will eliminate from this place the last vestige of Baal, the name of the idolatrous priests.