Chapter 3

For behold, the Lord, Jehovah of hosts, will take away from Jerusalem and from Judah stay and staff, the whole stay of bread, and the whole stay of water,

the mighty man and the man of war, the judge and the prophet, and the diviner and the elder,

the captain of fifty, and the honourable man, and the counsellor, and the clever among artificers, and the one versed in enchantments.

And I will appoint youths as their princes, and children shall rule over them.

And the people shall be oppressed one by the other, and each by his neighbour; the child will be insolent against the elder, and the base against the honourable.

When a man shall take hold of his brother, in his father's house, [and shall say:] Thou hast clothing; be our chief, and let this ruin be under thy hand;

he will lift up [his hand] in that day, saying, I cannot be a healer, and in my house there is neither bread nor clothing; ye shall not make me a chief of the people.

For Jerusalem stumbleth and Judah falleth, because their tongue and their doings are against Jehovah, to provoke the eyes of his glory.

The look of their face doth witness against them, and they declare their sin as Sodom: they hide it not. Woe unto their soul! for they have brought evil upon themselves.

Say ye of the righteous that it shall be well [with him], for they shall eat the fruit of their doings.

Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill [with him], because the desert of his hands shall be rendered unto him.

[As for] my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people! they that guide thee mislead [thee], and destroy the way of thy paths.

Jehovah setteth himself to plead, and standeth to judge the peoples.

Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of his people and their princes, [saying:] It is ye that have eaten up the vineyard: the spoil of the poor is in your houses.

What mean ye that ye crush my people, and grind the faces of the afflicted? saith the Lord, Jehovah of hosts.

And Jehovah said, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched-out neck and wanton eyes, and go along mincing, and making a tinkling with their feet;

therefore the Lord will make bald the crown of the head of the daughters of Zion, and Jehovah will lay bare their secret parts.

In that day the Lord will take away the ornament of anklets, and the little suns and crescents,

the pearl-drops, and the bracelets, and the veils,

the head-dresses, and the stepping chains, and the girdles, and the scent-boxes, and the amulets;

the finger-rings, and the nose-rings;

the festival-robes, and the tunics, and the mantles, and the wallets;

the mirrors, and the fine linen bodices, and the turbans, and the flowing veils.

And it shall come to pass, instead of perfume there shall be rottenness; and instead of a girdle, a rope; and instead of well-set hair, baldness; and instead of a robe of display, a girding of sackcloth; brand instead of beauty.

Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy mighty in the fight;

and her gates shall lament and mourn; and, stripped, she shall sit upon the ground.