21 How did the faithful city become a prostitute?

She who was full of justice—

with righteousness embedded in her,

but now ended up as murderers.

22 Your city’s silver has turned into junk metal.

You wine is now mixed with water.

23 Your leaders are rebels and companions of thieves.

Everyone loves bribes and kick-backs.

They don’t defend the fatherless,

and don’t even think about standing up for the widow.

24 Here’s the declaration of the Yisrael’s powerful master, army commander Yahweh:

“Oh well, I’ll get relief from my opponents,

≈ and avenge myself on my enemies;

25 I’ll turn my actions against you,

and refine your junk metal with chemicals

to remove all your impurity.

26 Then I’ll restore your judges like they were before,

and your counsellors like they were at the start.

Afterwards you’ll be a faithful city called ‘The city of integrity’.”

27 Tsiyyon (Zion) will be set free by justice,

and those who repent, set free by doing what is right.

28 But those who rebel or disobey will be shattered,

and those who abandon Yahweh will come to their end,

29 because they’ll be ashamed of the shrines that you liked at the sacred oak trees,

and you’ll all be disgraced by the gardens that you chose to worship idols in.

30 You’ll all be like an oak tree with withered leaves,

≈ and like a garden that has no access to water.

31 The strong man will be like kindling and his work like a spark,

and both of them will burn together in a fire that no one can put out.

2 This is the message the Amots’s son Yeshayah (Isaiah) saw concerning Yehudah (Judah) and Yerushalem (Jerusalem):

2 Near the end of time, the mountain where Yahweh’s house is

will be established as the most important mountain.

It will become more famous than any other hill,

and all the nations will flow to visit it.

3 Many different peoples will come and say,

“Come on, let’s go up to Yahweh’s mountain—

to the temple of Yakov’s (Jacob’s) God,

so he can teach us his ways and we can walk in his paths.”

Because God’s instructions will emanate from Tsiyyon (Zion),

≈ and Yahweh’s message will spread out starting from Yerushalem (Jerusalem).

4 He’ll judge between the nations,

≈ and will settle cases for many different peoples.

They’ll hammer their swords into plough blades,

≈ and their spears into pruning hooks.

The nations will stop attacking each other,

and they won’t go to war again.[ref]

5 You descendants of Yakov,

come and walk in Yahweh’s light.

6 Yes, you’ve abandoned your people, Yakov’s descendants,

because they’re too influenced by eastern ideas

and they practice divination like the Philistines,

and they make deals with sons of foreigners.

7 Their land is full of silver and gold,

≈ and there’s no limit to its wealth.

The land also is full of horses,

≈ and there’s no limit to its chariots,

8 Their land is full of idols.

They worship the craftsmanship of their own hands—

≈ what their fingers have made.

9 Then a person will be bowed down,

≈ and a man will be humbled,

but not forgiven.

10 Go into a cave in the rocks,

or hide in a hole in the ground

from the terror from Yahweh

and from the blinding light of his majesty.[ref]

11 Proud people will be humbled,

≈ and the arrogant will be take a lesson,

and Yahweh alone will be honoured on that day.

12 because army commander Yahweh has chosen a day

for judgement against those who are proud and aloof,

and against every arrogant person—they’ll all be humbled.

13 It’s also against all the high and mighty cedars in Lebanon,

and all the oak trees in Bashan,

14 against all the massive mountains

and all the high hills,

15 against every high tower

and fortified wall,

16 against all the ships from Tarshish

and all those beautiful sailing ships.

17 Humankind’s pride will be humbled

and the arrogance of people will be cut off,

and only Yahweh will be honoured at that time.

18 All the idols will be completely eliminated.

19 Yes, men will go into the caves in the rocks

and into holes in the ground,

to escape from the terror of Yahweh,

and from the blinding light of his majesty,

when he takes action to terrify the earth.

20 On that day, people will throw away

their gold and silver idols which they made to worship.

They’ll throw them into rabbit holes and bat caves.

21 Then they’ll crawl into the crevices in the rocks

and into the openings in the ragged cliffs,

to escape from the terror of Yahweh,

and from the blinding light of his majesty,

when he takes action to terrify the earth.

22 Don’t put your faith in humankind who need air to breathe,

because what can they do about anything?

3 Yes, listen, the master, army commander Yahweh will take supply and support

away from Yerushalem (Jerusalem) and from Yehudah (Judah)—

all the supply of bread and of water,

2 the top warriors and regular soldiers,

the judges and prophets,

the diviners and elders,

3 the unit captains and respected officials,

the counsellors and expert craftsman,

and any skillful enchanters.

4 “Then I’ll put young people in place as their leaders,

≈ and children will rule over them.

5 After that, the people will be oppressed—

one person fighting another,

and a man being taken advantage of by his neighbour.

The lad will insult the elderly,

and the dishonourable insult the honourable.

6 Indeed, a man will seize his brother in his own father’s house:

‘You have a coat so be our ruler,

and this ruin will be under your control.’

7 That will cause him to shout out,

‘I have no intention of helping. I don’t even have enough food and clothes for my own household.

and in my house there is no bread and there is no clothing.

Don’t try to make me the ruler of the people.’ ”

8 Yes, Yerushalem has stumbled,

and Yehudah has fallen,

because their words and actions are against Yahweh,

defying his royal authority.

9 You can tell their intentions by the look on their faces,

and they talk about their disobedience like the people in Sodom did.

They don’t try to hide it.

Their lives won’t end well because they’ve brought suffering on themselves.

10 Tell those who do what’s right

that they’ll be rewarded for their good deeds.

11 But the wicked won’t end well.

They’ll be repaid appropriately for their actions.

12 Even children will oppress my people,

≈ and women rule over them.

Those who guide you lead my people astray

≈ and confuse your progress to make you follow the wrong path.

13 Yahweh is getting ready to make his case

and is standing ready to judge the peoples.

14 He will come to pronounce judgement on the elders of his people and their leaders:

“Yes, all of you, you’ve taken all the fruit from the vineyard—

the plunder from the poor is in your houses.

15 Why do you crush my people

and rub the poor people’s faces into the ground?”

That’s the declaration of my master, army commander Yahweh.

16 Then Yahweh said:

“Because Tsiyyon’s (Zion’s) daughters are proud,

and they walk with their chins stuck out and with flirting eyes—

walking and mincing their steps and tinkling their feet,

17 Then my master will shave the heads of Tsiyyon’s daughters,

≈ and Yahweh will make their foreheads bald.”

18 At that time my master will remove their fancy ankle bracelets and headbands, crescent necklaces

19 and earrings, bracelets and veils,

20 scarves, armlets, and sashes, perfume bottles and charms,

21 rings on their fingers and in their noses,

22 festive robes and capes, veils and purses,

23 fine clothes and underwear, and their turbans and shawls.

24 When that happens, there’ll be a stink instead of fragrance,

a rope instead of a nice sash,

baldness instead of a styled hairdo,

sackcloth instead of fancy clothes,

brands on the skin instead of beauty,

25 Your men will die from the sword

and your warriors in the battle.

26 The city gates will mourn and wail,

and she’ll end up just sitting their on the ground, alone.

4 When that happens, seven women will take hold of one man, saying,

‘We’ll eat our food and wear our clothes.

Just let us marry you so we can take your name

to remove our shame.’

2 At that time, Yahweh’s branch will become beautiful and glorious,

and the produce of the land will be a source of pride and delight for what remains of the Israelis. 3 All who remain in Tsiyyon, i.e., the remnant in Yerushalem, will then be his people who are destined to continue to live. 4 Surely my master will wash away the filth of Tsiyyon’s daughters, and clea up the blood stains from the middle of Yerushalem using the spirit of judgement and the spirit of fire. 5 Then over all of Mt. Zion and her assemblies there, Yahweh will place a canopy over all the splendour—creating cloud during the day, and smoke and the brightness of a flaming fire during the night.[ref] 6 During the day, it’ll be a shelter that gives shade from the heat, as well as being a cover and place to get out of the storm and rain.

5 Let me sing, please, to my dearest one,

a song for my darling about his vineyard.

My dearest had a vineyard on very fertile hillside.[ref]

2 He dug it over and cleared it

and planted it with choice vines.

He built a watchtower in the middle of it

and also hewed a winepress in a rocky portion.

Then he waited for it to produce grapes,

but it produced sour, wild grapes.

3 So now, you who lives in Yerushalem

≈ and man from Yehudah,

judge, please, between me and between my vineyard.

4 What more could have been done for my vineyard,

that I haven’t already done for it?

I waited for it to produce grapes,

but why did it produce wild grapes?

5 So now, listen please,

because I’ll tell you what I’m going to do to my vineyard:

I’ll remove the hedge around it and burn it in a fire.

I’ll tear its wall down so people can trample over it.

6 Then I’ll allow it to become overgrown.

It won’t be pruned or hoed, and thistles and thorns will grow through it.

Then I’ll command the clouds not to rain on it any more.

7 Yes, army commander Yahweh’s vineyard is Yisrael,

and the people from Yehudah are his nice plants.

Then he waited for justice, but look, slaughter came.

He waited for people to do what’s right, but listen, screaming came.

8 Those who acquire houses won’t end well,

≈ or those who add to their fields until there’s no room left.

→ Then the poor are made to remain alone in the middle of the country.

9 I heard army commander Yahweh say:

‘Surely many houses will end up empty—

≈ even large and nice ones won’t have anyone living in them.

10 A large vineyard will produce a measly amount of juice,

≈ and ten baskets of seed will only give a harvest of one basket of grain.

11 Those who get up early in the morning to get a strong drink won’t end well,

≈ yes, those who loiter into the night as wine inflames them.

12 They celebrate with harp and lyre,

tambourine and flute and wine,

but they don’t care about anything that Yahweh does,

≈ in fact, they don’t even know what he’s done for them.

13 Therefore, my people will be exiled because of their for lack of understanding,

and its honourable people are hungry,

≈ and the parched crowds are thirsty.

14 Therefore, the grave has enlarged its appetite

≈ and opened its mouth without limit.

and its elite and its crowd will descend into it,

along with its noisy crowd and those celebrating.

15 Everyone will be brought into submission and humbled.

≈ All the proud people will be humiliated,

16 and army commander Yahweh will be honoured for his justice.

≈ God will demonstrate his holiness by doing what is right.

17 Then the lambs will feed in their pastures,

≈ and fattened calves will graze around the houses.

18 Those who pull in wickedness with cords of lies won’t end well,

≈ and nor will those who drag disobedience along behind them with cart ropes.

19 They say, ‘Let him hurry,

≈ let him speed up his work so we can see what he’s doing,

and let the counsel of the holy one of Yisrael approach,

≈ and let it come and let us know.’

20 Those who call evil good, and good evil, won’t end well.

≈ Nor will those who make darkness for light and light for darkness,

≈ or who set bitter as sweet and sweet as bitter!

21 Those who are wise in their own eyes won’t end well,

≈ nor those who think they’re clever.

22 Those who are experts at drinking wine won’t end well,

≈ nor those whose strength is mixing strong drinks,

23 or those who take a bribe then say a wicked person is innocent,

≈ or those that deny justice to innocent people.

24 Therefore, the roots of their families will rot,

≈ and their flowers will flower away like dust

just like how a tongue of fire devours stubble in a field

≈ and the dry grass goes up in flame,

because they’ve rejected army commander Yahweh’s instructions,

≈ and they’ve despised the message from the holy one of Yisrael.

25 That’s why Yahweh got very angry at his people,

and he’s taken action against them and has struck them.

The mountains tremble and their corpses become like garbage in the streets.

In all these things, his anger doesn’t subside,

≈ and he doesn’t withdraw the actions he’s started.

26 He’ll signal to faraway nations

≈ and will whistle to those at the ends of the earth.

Then wow, how quickly they’ll show up.

27 Those enemy armies won’t get tired or stumble.

≈ They won’t stop for a rest or to sleep.

They never take their weapons off,

≈ or loosen the straps on their sandals.

28 Their arrows are sharp,

≈ and all their bows are strung.

Their horses have hooves as hard as flint,

≈ and their chariot wheels are like a windstorm.

29 Their roar sounds like a lion,

≈ and they growl like young lions.

They seize their prey and carry it off,

→ and there’s no rescuer in sight.

30 They will roar above their prey on that day,

≈ like the roaring of the ocean.

If someone looks across the land they’d only see darkness and distress.

≈ The light has been darkened by the clouds.