¹Woe to those who devise vain things,

And those who engage in evil on their couches.

At morning light they perform it,

For it is in the power of their hand.

²And they covet fields,

And they seize them,

And they covet houses,

And they expropriate them,

And they oppress a fellow and his household,

And a man and his inheritance.

³Therefore this is what the Lord says:

“Look, I am devising evil on this family

– A yoke from which you will not be able to move your necks –

And you will not walk haughtily,

For it will be a time of evil.

⁴On that day a proverb will be uttered against you,

And a mournful lamentation will be delivered,

Which will say,

‘We have been completely plundered;

He has changed the portion of my people.

How he has removed what was mine,

By overturning our fields

And dividing them up.’ ”

⁵Therefore you will not have anyone drawing a boundary by lot,

In the convocation of the Lord.

⁶“Do not prophesy”, they prophesy.

So they do not prophesy to these people.

No-one withdraws from the shame he incurs.

⁷“Are you called the house of Jacob?

Has the Lord become impatient?

Or are these things his works?

Are not my works good

With him who walks uprightly?

⁸And recently my people would rise as if against an enemy.

Encountering a garment,

You would strip off the mantle

From passers-by, confidently

– Those returning from battle.

⁹You drive out the women of my people,

Each from her pleasant home.

You have taken away my honour from her children age-abidingly.

¹⁰Rise and go,

For this is not rest,

Because of uncleanness,

And it is destructive with a pernicious destruction.

¹¹If a man walks in a spirit of falsehood,

And he lies,

Saying, ‘I will prophesy to you of wine and strong drink’,

Then he will be accepted as a prophet of this people.

¹²I will certainly gather all of you, Jacob,

I will certainly collect the remainder of Israel

And put him together like the sheep of Bozrah,

Like a flock in the middle of its pasture.

The women will bustle with so many people.

¹³The demolisher has gone out.

They break what is in front of them,

And they cross the gate and come out through it.

Their king crosses in front of them,

And the Lord is at their head.”