Yahweh will punish those who oppress the poor

2 Terrible things will happen to you who lie awake in bed at night

planning how to do evil things.

You get up at dawn and you do those things,

simply because you are able to do them.

2 You want fields that belong to other people,

so you forcefully take them;

you want their houses, so you steal them.

You cheat people and take away their property, including what their families have owned for generations.

3 So this is what Yahweh says:

“Listen to me! I am planning to destroy you people,

and you will not be able to escape from it.

You will no longer be able to act proudly,

because you will be experiencing terrible things.

4 At that time, your enemies will mock you

by singing this very sad song about you:

‘Yahweh has completely destroyed us Israelites!

Yahweh is taking the portions of land away from us that he had given to us!

We are extremely distressed because he is giving our fields to our enemies!’ ”

5 So when Yahweh’s people return to divide up the land again,

no one from your families will be there to receive any of it.

6 False prophets who hear me say this prophesy to me,

“Do not prophesy!”

They do not prophesy about these things, therefore Yahweh will certainly dishonor them.

7 You descendants of Jacob should not say such things as,

“Yahweh does not become impatient.”

Or, “These are not the kinds of things that he does.”

What I say certainly helps those who do what is right.

8 However, Yahweh says,

“Recently my people have turned against me and become my enemies.

When people pass by feeling safe,

like soldiers returning from battle to their own people,

you strip the fine outer garments right off their fronts.

9 You force the women among my people out of the homes that they love,

and you take away from their children forever

the good things that I wanted to give them.

10 So get up and leave!

This land is no longer a place where you can live.

You have made it unacceptable to me by your sins,

so I will destroy it in a way that is severe.”

11 If someone who speaks nothing but lies were to say,

“I will preach that you should drink wine and beer!”

that is the kind of prophet you people would accept.

12 “However, some day I will certainly gather all of you descendants of Jacob.

I will certainly bring together the Israelite people who survive.

I will bring them together in one place, as a shepherd gathers a flock of sheep into a good pasture.

They will make a lot of noise because there will be very many of them.

13 I will send someone who will open the way in front of them, and they will follow behind him, going out through the gate.

Their king will go before them,

and I, Yahweh, will be the one leading them.”

3 Then I said,

“You leaders of the people of Jacob

and you rulers of the people of Israel, listen to me!

You are the ones who should know all about how to treat people fairly.

2 Yet you hate what is right and love what is evil!

You violently rob my people

as though you are stripping off their skin and flesh.

3 You greedily strip my people of everything that they have

as though you are a butcher who strips off their skin,

breaks their bones,

chops them up,

puts them into a cooking pot,

and eats them.”

4 Someday, when bad things happen to those leaders, they will call out for Yahweh to help them,

but he will not help them.

He will be as diligent to ignore them at that time,

as they were to do evil deeds.

5 This is what Yahweh says,

“This is about the prophets who are misleading my people.

They prophesy good things for anyone giving them something to eat.

However, they declare holy war against anyone who does not give them food.

6 Because of that, it will be as though it is always night for you prophets because you will no longer be able to see visions,

and you will no longer be able to practice divination.

Yes, it will be as though the sun has set for you prophets even during the day,

because I will show you nothing.

7 Those who claim to see the future will feel ashamed,

and those who practice divination will feel disgraced.

They will all cover their faces to express how ashamed they are,

because God will not answer them.

8 But as for me, Yahweh’s Spirit greatly empowers me

to do what is right and to be strong

so that I can tell the people of Jacob how they have rebelled against God

and tell the people of Israel how they have sinned.

9 You leaders of the people of Jacob

and you rulers of the people of Israel, listen to this!

You are the ones who hate it when people do what is right,

and when people say what is true, you change it into something false.

10 You are getting the wealth to build up Jerusalem

by murdering people and treating people unjustly.

11 The city’s leaders decide cases favorably only for those who give them bribes.

The city’s priests teach only when people pay them well.

The city’s prophets require people to pay them money in order to tell them what they think will happen to them.

Yet those same leaders trust in Yahweh and say,

“Yahweh is among us,

so nothing bad will happen to us.”

12 So, because of what you leaders are doing,

enemies will make Mount Zion look like a field that a farmer has plowed.

Jerusalem will become a pile of rubble,

and the temple hill will become an overgrown forest.