When someone comes to visit, ¹  he pretends to be friendly; ²  he thinks of ways to defame me, ³  and when he leaves he slanders me. ⁴ 

Look, the Lord is ready to devastate the earth and leave it in ruins; he will mar its surface and scatter its inhabitants.

You know that from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors you were ransomed – not by perishable things like silver or gold,

If the God of my father – the God of Abraham, the one whom Isaac fears ¹  – had not been with me, you would certainly have sent me away empty-handed! But God saw how I was oppressed and how hard I worked, ²  and he rebuked you last night.”

Your basket and your mixing bowl will be cursed.

They replied, “If you are going to send the ark of ¹  the God of Israel back, don’t send it away empty. Be sure to return it with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why his hand is not removed from you.”

The Lord knows that peoples’ thoughts are morally bankrupt. ¹ 

But avoid profane chatter, ¹  because those occupied with it will stray further and further into ungodliness, ² 

In the same way, the promise that I make does not return to me, having accomplished nothing. ¹  No, it is realized as I desire and is fulfilled as I intend.” ² 

I will send people to winnow Babylonia like a wind blowing away chaff. ¹  They will winnow her and strip her land bare. ²  This will happen when ³  they come against her from every direction, when it is time to destroy her. ⁴ 

Then the priest will command that the house be cleared ¹  before the priest enters to examine the infection ²  so that everything in the house ³  does not become unclean, ⁴  and afterward ⁵  the priest will enter to examine the house.

Your claim to have a strategy and military strength is just empty talk. ¹  In whom are you trusting, that you would dare to rebel against me?

“I looked at the land and saw ¹  that it was an empty wasteland. ²  I looked up at the sky, and its light had vanished.

Destruction, devastation, and desolation! ¹  Their hearts faint, ²  their knees tremble, ³  each stomach churns, ⁴  each face ⁵  turns ⁶  pale! ⁷ 

For by speaking high-sounding but empty words ¹  they are able to entice, ²  with fleshly desires and with debauchery, ³  people ⁴  who have just escaped ⁵  from those who reside in error. ⁶ 

For this is what the Lord God of Israel says, ‘The jar of flour will not be empty and the jug of oil will not run out until the day the Lord makes it rain on the surface of the ground.’”

No one is concerned about justice; ¹  no one sets forth his case truthfully. They depend on false words ²  and tell lies; they conceive of oppression ³  and give birth to sin.

“‘Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to the city of bloodshed, the pot whose rot ¹  is in it, whose rot has not been removed ²  from it! Empty it piece by piece. No lot has fallen on it. ³ 

Before he could reply I asked again, “What are these two extensions ¹  of the olive trees, which are emptying out the golden oil through the two golden pipes?”

Look, your house is left to you desolate!