Tell me! Present the evidence! ¹  Let them consult with one another! Who predicted this in the past? Who announced it beforehand? Was it not I, the Lord? I have no peer, there is no God but me, a God who vindicates and delivers; ²  there is none but me.

They seek me day after day; they want to know my requirements, ¹  like a nation that does what is right and does not reject the law of their God. They ask me for just decrees; they want to be near God.

Whoever pronounces a blessing in the earth ¹  will do so in the name of the faithful God; ²  whoever makes an oath in the earth will do so in the name of the faithful God. ³  For past problems will be forgotten; I will no longer think about them. ⁴ 

“How can you say, ‘I have not made myself unclean. I have not paid allegiance to ¹  the gods called Baal.’ Just look at the way you have behaved in the Valley of Hinnom! ²  Think about the things you have done there! You are like a flighty, young female camel that rushes here and there, crisscrossing its path. ³ 

And you, Zion, city doomed to destruction, ¹  you accomplish nothing ²  by wearing a beautiful dress, ³  decking yourself out in jewels of gold, and putting on eye shadow! ⁴  You are making yourself beautiful for nothing. Your lovers spurn you. They want to kill you. ⁵ 

They will eat up your crops and your food. They will kill off ¹  your sons and your daughters. They will eat up your sheep and your cattle. They will destroy your vines and your fig trees. ²  Their weapons will batter down ³  the fortified cities you trust in.

How long must the land be parched ¹  and the grass in every field be withered? How long ²  must the animals and the birds die because of the wickedness of the people who live in this land? ³  For these people boast, “God ⁴  will not see what happens to us.” ⁵ 

The Lord answered, ¹  “If you have raced on foot against men and they have worn you out, how will you be able to compete with horses? And if you feel secure only ²  in safe and open country, ³  how will you manage in the thick undergrowth along the Jordan River? ⁴ 

Sometimes I think, “I will make no mention of his message. I will not speak as his messenger ¹  any more.” But then ²  his message becomes like a fire locked up inside of me, burning in my heart and soul. ³  I grow weary of trying to hold it in; I cannot contain it.

For take note, I am already beginning to bring disaster on the city that I call my own. ¹  So how can you possibly avoid being punished? ²  You will not go unpunished! For I am proclaiming war against all who live on the earth. I, the Lord who rules over all, ³  affirm it!’ ⁴ 

“Micah from Moresheth ¹  prophesied during the time Hezekiah was king of Judah. ²  He told all the people of Judah, ‘The Lord who rules over all ³  says, “Zion ⁴  will become a plowed field. Jerusalem ⁵  will become a pile of rubble. The temple mount will become a mere wooded ridge.”’ ⁶ 

You yourself will not escape his clutches, but will certainly be captured and handed over to him. You must confront the king of Babylon face to face and answer to him personally. ¹  Then you must go to Babylon.

The women added, ¹  “We did indeed sacrifice and pour out drink offerings to the Queen of Heaven. But it was with the full knowledge and approval of our husbands that we made cakes in her image and poured out drink offerings to her.” ² 

He said to me, “Do you see, son of man, what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in the chamber of his idolatrous images? ¹  For they think, ‘The Lord does not see us! The Lord has abandoned the land!’”

and say ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says: Woe to those who sew bands ¹  on all their wrists ²  and make headbands ³  for heads of every size to entrap people’s lives! ⁴  Will you entrap my people’s lives, yet preserve your own lives?

“‘As for you, O house of Israel, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Each of you go and serve your idols, ¹  if you will not listen to me. ²  But my holy name will not be profaned ³  again by your sacrifices ⁴  and your idols.

to loot and plunder, to attack ¹  the inhabited ruins and the people gathered from the nations, who are acquiring cattle and goods, who live at the center ²  of the earth.”

By his treachery ¹  he will succeed through deceit. ²  He will have an arrogant attitude, ³  and he will destroy many who are unaware of his schemes. ⁴  He will rise up against the Prince of princes, yet he will be broken apart – but not by human agency. ⁵ 

In a time of prosperity for the most productive areas of the province he will come and accomplish what neither his fathers nor their fathers accomplished. He will distribute loot, spoils, and property to his followers, and he will devise plans against fortified cities, but not for long. ¹ 

Then she will pursue her lovers, but she will not catch ¹  them; she will seek them, but she will not find them. ²  Then she will say, “I will go back ³  to my husband, ⁴  because I was better off then than I am now.” ⁵