Look, my earlier predictive oracles have come to pass; ¹  now I announce new events. Before they begin to occur, I reveal them to you.” ² 

We all growl like bears, we coo mournfully like doves; we wait for deliverance, ¹  but there is none, for salvation, but it is far from us.

Justice is driven back; godliness ¹  stands far off. Indeed, ²  honesty stumbles in the city square and morality is not even able to enter.

He repays them for what they have done, dispensing angry judgment to his adversaries and punishing his enemies. ¹  He repays the coastlands. ² 

The sound of battle comes from the city; the sound comes from the temple! It is the sound of the Lord paying back his enemies.

The fiery bellows of judgment burn fiercely. But there is too much dross to be removed. ¹  The process of refining them has proved useless. ²  The wicked have not been purged.

Your wise men will be put to shame. They will be dumbfounded and be brought to judgment. ¹  Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what wisdom do they really have?

So then, listen to what I, the Lord God of Israel who rules over all, ¹  say. ²  ‘I will make these people eat the bitter food of suffering and drink the poison water of judgment. ³ 

From earliest times, the prophets who preceded you and me invariably ¹  prophesied war, disaster, ²  and plagues against many countries and great kingdoms.

A curse on anyone who is lax in doing the Lord’s work! A curse on anyone who keeps from carrying out his destruction! ¹ 

What follows is a record of what happened to Jerusalem and Judah because of the Lord’s anger when he drove them out of his sight. ¹  Zedekiah rebelled against the king of Babylon.

“Therefore this is what the sovereign Lord says: I – even I – am against you, ¹  and I will execute judgment ²  among you while the nations watch. ³ 

The time has come; the day has struck! The customer should not rejoice, nor the seller mourn; for divine wrath ¹  comes against their whole crowd.

The Lord said to me: “Son of man, are you willing to pronounce judgment ¹  on Oholah and Oholibah? Then declare to them their abominable deeds!

I will put an end to the obscene conduct in the land; all the women will learn a lesson from this and not engage in obscene conduct.

Suppose I say to the wicked, ‘You must certainly die,’ but he turns from his sin and does what is just and right.

Realize that it is coming and it will be done, declares the sovereign Lord. It is the day I have spoken about.

I will commit myself to you ¹  forever; I will commit myself to you in ²  righteousness and justice, in steadfast love and tender compassion.

So will it happen to you, O Bethel, ¹  because of your great wickedness! When that day dawns, ²  the king of Israel will be destroyed. ³ 

But you must return ¹  to your God, by maintaining love and justice, and by waiting ²  for your God to return to you. ³