The Lord comes to pronounce judgment on the leaders of his people and their officials. He says, ¹  “It is you ²  who have ruined ³  the vineyard! ⁴  You have stashed in your houses what you have stolen from the poor. ⁵ 

You steal. ¹  You murder. You commit adultery. You lie when you swear on oath. You sacrifice to the god Baal. You pay allegiance to ²  other gods whom you have not previously known.

מ (Mem) But it happened ¹  due to the sins of her prophets ²  and the iniquities of her priests, who poured out in her midst the blood of the righteous.

oppresses the poor and the needy, ¹  commits robbery, does not give back what was given in pledge, prays to ²  idols, performs abominable acts,

The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy; they have oppressed the foreigner who lives among them and denied them justice. ¹ 

“For this is what the sovereign Lord says: Bring up an army ¹  against them and subject them ²  to terror and plunder.

of the land. This will be his property in Israel. My princes will no longer oppress my people, but the land will be allotted to the house of Israel according to their tribes.

For you took my silver and my gold and brought my precious valuables to your own palaces. ¹ 

They confiscate the fields they desire, and seize the houses they want. ¹  They defraud people of their homes, ²  and deprive people of the land they have inherited. ³ 

Your creditors will suddenly attack; ¹  those who terrify you will spring into action, ²  and they will rob you. ³ 

A member of the crowd said to him, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that makes him mute.

But ¹  when a stronger man ²  attacks ³  and conquers him, he takes away the first man’s ⁴  armor on which the man relied ⁵  and divides up ⁶  his plunder. ⁷ 

therefore ¹  you who teach someone else, do you not teach yourself? You who preach against stealing, do you steal?

The fact that you have lawsuits among yourselves demonstrates that you have already been defeated. Why not rather be wronged? Why not rather be cheated?

and constant bickering by people corrupted in their minds and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness ¹  is a way of making a profit.

But you have dishonored the poor! ¹  Are not the rich oppressing you and dragging you into the courts?

I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have so that no one can take away ¹  your crown. ² 

Jacob heard that Laban’s sons were complaining, ¹  “Jacob has taken everything that belonged to our father! He has gotten rich ²  at our father’s expense!” ³ 

“When a person sins and commits a trespass ¹  against the Lord by deceiving his fellow citizen ²  in regard to something held in trust, or a pledge, or something stolen, or by extorting something from his fellow citizen, ³ 

The Lord was furious with Israel ¹  and handed them over to robbers who plundered them. ²  He turned them over to ³  their enemies who lived around them. They could not withstand their enemies’ attacks. ⁴