1  ^lWoe to those who devise wickedness

and work evil ^mon their beds!

When the morning dawns, they perform it,

because it is in the power of their hand.

2  They covet fields and ⁿseize them,

and houses, and take them away;

they oppress a man and his house,

a man and his inheritance.

3  Therefore thus says the Lord:

behold, against ^othis family I am devising disaster,¹

from which you cannot remove your necks,

and you ^pshall not walk haughtily,

^qfor it will be a time of disaster.

4  In that day ^rthey shall take up a taunt song against you

and moan bitterly,

and say, “We are utterly ruined;

^she changes the portion of my people;

^show he removes it from me!

^tTo an apostate he allots our fields.”

5  Therefore you will have none ^uto cast the line by lot

in the assembly of the Lord.

6  ^v“Do not preach”—thus they preach—

^w“one should not preach of such things;

^xdisgrace will not overtake us.”

7  Should this be said, O house of Jacob?

^vHas the Lord grown impatient?²

Are these his deeds?

Do not my words do good

to him who walks uprightly?

8  But lately ^ymy people have risen up as an enemy;

you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly

with no thought of war.³

9  The women of my people you drive out

from their delightful houses;

from their young children you take away

my splendor forever.

10  ^zArise and go,

for this is no ^aplace to rest,

because of ^buncleanness that destroys

with a grievous destruction.

11  If a man should go about and ^cutter wind and lies,

saying, “I will preach to you ^dof wine and strong drink,”

he would be the preacher for this people!

12  I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob;

^eI will gather ^fthe remnant of Israel;

I will set them together

like sheep in a fold,

^hlike a flock in its pasture,

a noisy multitude of men.

13  ⁱHe who opens the breach goes up before them;

they break through and pass the gate,

^jgoing out by it.

Their king passes on before them,

^kthe Lord at their head.

1  And I said:

^lHear, you heads of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel!

^mIs it not for you to know justice?—

2  you ⁿwho hate the good and love the evil,

^owho tear the skin from off my people⁴

and their flesh from off their bones,

3  ^pwho eat the flesh of my people,

and flay their skin from off them,

and break their bones in pieces

and chop them up like meat in a pot,

like flesh in a cauldron.

4  ^qThen they will cry to the Lord,

but he will not answer them;

^rhe will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have made their deeds evil.

5  Thus says the Lord concerning ^sthe prophets

who lead my people astray,

^twho cry “Peace”

when they have something to eat,

but declare war against him

who puts nothing into their mouths.

6  Therefore ^uit shall be night to you, without vision,

and darkness to you, without divination.

^vThe sun shall go down on the prophets,

and the day shall be black over them;

7  ^wthe seers shall be disgraced,

and the diviners put to shame;

^xthey shall all cover their lips,

for ^ythere is no answer from God.

8  But as for me, ^zI am filled with power,

with the Spirit of the Lord,

and with justice and might,

to declare to Jacob ^ahis transgression

and to Israel his sin.

9  ^bHear this, you heads of the house of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel,

^cwho detest justice

and make crooked all that is straight,

10  ^dwho build Zion with blood

and Jerusalem with iniquity.

11  ^eIts heads give judgment for a bribe;

^fits priests teach for a price;

^gits prophets practice divination for money;

^hyet they lean on the Lord and ⁱsay,

“Is not the Lord in the midst of us?

^jNo disaster shall come upon us.”

12  Therefore because of you

^kZion shall be plowed as a field;

Jerusalem ^lshall become a heap of ruins,

and ^mthe mountain of the house ⁿa wooded height.

^w“‘It shall not stand,

and it shall not come to pass.

8  For the head of Syria is ^xDamascus,

and the head of Damascus is Rezin.

And within sixty-five years

Ephraim will be shattered from being a people.

9  And the head of Ephraim is Samaria,

and the head of Samaria is ^ythe son of Remaliah.

^zIf you⁵ are not firm in faith,

you will not be firm at all.’”