The people of Israel are guilty and must be punished

9 “I am Yahweh, so if you are wise, you should revere me.

I am calling out to you people of Jerusalem,

‘The armies [MET] that will destroy your city are coming,

so pay careful attention to me, the one who is causing them to punish you with my rod.

10 Do you think that [RHQ] I should forget that you wicked people filled your homes with valuable things

that you acquired by cheating others?

Do you think that [RHQ] I should forget that you used false measures when you bought and sold things?

Those are things that I hate.

11 Do you think that [RHQ] I should say nothing about people who use scales that do not weigh correctly,

and who use weights that are not accurate?

12 The rich people among you always act violently to get money from poor people.

All of the people in Jerusalem are liars,

and they [SYN] always deceive people.

13 Therefore, I have already begun to get rid of you,

to ruin you because of the sins that you have committed.

14 Soon you will eat food, but you will not have enough to satisfy you;

your stomachs will still feel as though they are empty.

You will try to save up money,

but you will not be able to save anything,

because I will send your enemies to take it from you in wars [MTY].

15 You will plant seeds,

but you will not harvest anything.

You will press olives,

but others, not you, will use the olive oil.

You will trample on grapes and make wine from the juice,

but others, not you, will drink the wine.

16 Those things will happen to you because you obey only the wicked laws of King Omri,

and you do the terrible things that wicked King Ahab and his descendants commanded.

So, I will destroy your country,

and I will cause your people to be despised;

people of other nations will insult you.’ ”