1 Walk around the streets of Jerusalem.
2 People say, “As the Lord lives …”
3 Lord, your eyes look for the truth.
4 I thought, “These are poor, foolish people.
5 Let me go to important people and speak to them.
6 That is why a lion from the forest will attack them.
7 “Why should I forgive you?
8 They are like well-fed stallions that are wild with desire.
9 I will punish them for these things,” declares the Lord.
10 “Go among Jerusalem’s rows of grapevines and destroy them,
11 The nations of Israel and Judah are unfaithful to me,”
12 They lie about the Lord and say,
13 The prophets are nothing but windbags.
14 This is what the Lord God of Armies says:
15 Nation of Israel, I’m going to bring a nation from far away
16 Their arrow quivers are like open graves.
17 They will devour your harvest and your food.
18 Yet, even in those days, declares the Lord,
19 They will ask, “Why has the Lord our God done all this to us?” Answer them, “You have abandoned me and served foreign gods in your land. So you will serve foreigners in a land that isn’t yours.”
20 “Tell this to the descendants of Jacob, and make this heard in Judah:
21 Hear this, you stupid and senseless people!
22 Don’t you fear me?” asks the Lord.
23 But these people are stubborn and rebellious.
24 They don’t say to themselves,
25 Your wickedness has turned these things away.
26 “Wicked people are found among my people.
27 Like cages filled with birds, their houses are filled with deceit.
28 They grow big and fat.
29 I will punish them for these things,” declares the Lord.
30 “Something horrible and disgusting is happening in the land:
31 Prophets prophesy lies.