Chapter 3

God Will Remove the Leaders

1 For behold, the Lord 1God of hosts ais going to remove from Jerusalem and Judah

Both 2supply and support, the whole 2supply of bread

And the whole 2supply of water;

2 aThe mighty man and the warrior,

The judge and the prophet,

The diviner and the elder,

3 The captain of fifty and the honorable man,

The counselor and the expert artisan,

And the skillful enchanter.

4 And I will make mere alads their princes,

And 1capricious children will rule over them,

5 And the people will be aoppressed,

Each one by another, and each one by his bneighbor;

The youth will storm against the elder

And the inferior against the honorable.

6 When a man alays hold of his brother in his father’s house, saying,

“You have a cloak, you shall be our ruler,

And these ruins will be under your 1charge,”

7 He will 1protest on that day, saying,

“I will not be your 2ahealer,

For in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;

You should not appoint me ruler of the people.”

8 For aJerusalem has stumbled and Judah has fallen,

Because their 1bspeech and their actions are against the Lord,

To crebel against 2His glorious presence.

9 1The expression of their faces bears witness against them,

And they display their sin like aSodom;

They do not even conceal it.

Woe to 2them!

For they have bbrought evil on themselves.

10 Say to the arighteous that it will go well with them,

For they will eat the fruit of their actions.

11 Woe to the wicked! It will go badly with him,

For 1awhat he deserves will be done to him.

12 O My people! Their oppressors 1are achildren,

And women rule over them.

O My people! bThose who guide you lead you astray

And confuse the direction of your paths.

God Will Judge

13 aThe Lord arises to contend,

And stands to judge the people.

14 The Lord aenters into judgment with the elders and princes of His people,

“It is you who have bdevoured the vineyard;

The cplunder of the poor is in your houses.

15 “What do you mean by acrushing My people

And grinding the face of the poor?”

Declares the Lord 1God of hosts.

Judah’s Women Denounced

16 Moreover, the Lord said, “Because the adaughters of Zion are proud

And walk with 1heads held high and seductive eyes,

And go along with mincing steps

And tinkle the bangles on their feet,

17 Therefore the Lord will afflict the scalp of the daughters of Zion with scabs,

And the Lord will make their foreheads bare.”

18 In that day the Lord will take away the beauty of their anklets, headbands, acrescent ornaments,

19 dangling earrings, bracelets, veils,

20 aheaddresses, ankle chains, sashes, perfume boxes, amulets,

21 1finger rings, anose rings,

22 festal robes, outer tunics, cloaks, money purses,

23 hand mirrors, undergarments, turbans and veils.

24 Now it will come about that instead of 1sweet aperfume there will be putrefaction;

Instead of a belt, a rope;

Instead of bwell-set hair, a cplucked-out scalp;

Instead of fine clothes, a ddonning of sackcloth;

And branding instead of beauty.

25 Your men will afall by the sword

And your 1mighty ones in battle.

26 And her 1agates will lament and mourn,

And deserted she will bsit on the ground.