Wells keep giving fresh water. And Jerusalem keeps on sinning. Its people are always fighting and causing trouble. When I look at them, I see nothing but sickness and wounds.
There isn’t a healthy spot on your body. You are not healthy from the bottom of your feet to the top of your head. You have nothing but wounds, cuts and open sores. They haven’t been cleaned up or bandaged or treated with olive oil.
Those people weave their evil plans together like a spider’s web. But the webs they make can’t be used as clothes. They can’t cover themselves with what they make. Their acts are evil. They do things to harm others.
Every time I speak, I cry out. All you ever tell me to talk about is fighting and trouble. Your message has brought me nothing but dishonor. It has made me suffer shame all day long.
Why do you cry out about your wound? Your pain can’t be healed. Your guilt is very great. And you have committed many sins. That is why I have done all these things to you.
The visions of your prophets are false. They use magic to try to find out what is going to happen to you. But their magic tricks are lies. The sword will strike the necks of you sinful people. You will be killed. The day for you to be punished has finally come. Your time is up.
“The blood Jerusalem’s people spilled is inside its walls. They poured it out on a bare rock. They did not pour it on the ground. If they had, dust would have covered it up.
The Lord and King says, “Princes of Israel, you have gone far enough! Stop hurting others. Do not crush them. Do what is fair and right. Stop taking my people’s land away from them,” announces the Lord and King.
Your mean and harmful acts have become like a rod. I will use it to punish those who do evil. None of them will be left. None of their wealth or anything of value will remain.