1For lo, the Lord God of hosts will take away from Jerusalem and from Judah the stay and the strength: even all the stay of bread, and all the stay of water,
2The strong man, and the man of war, the judge, and the Prophet, the prudent and the aged,
3The captain of fifty, and the honorable, and the counselor, and the cunning artificer, and eloquent man.
4And I will appoint children to be their princes, and babes shall rule over them.
5The people shall be oppressed one of another, and every one by his neighbor: the children shall presume against the ancient, and the vile against the honorable.
6When everyone shall take hold of his brother of the house of his father, and say, Thou hast clothing, thou shalt be our prince, and let this fall be under thine hand:
7In that day he shall swear, saying, I cannot be an helper: for there is no bread in mine house, nor clothing: therefore make me no prince of the people.
8Doubtless Jerusalem is fallen, and Judah is fallen down, because their tongue and works are against the Lord, to provoke the eyes of his glory.
9The trial of their countenance testifieth against them, yea, they declare their sins, as Sodom, they hide them not. Woe be unto their souls: for they have rewarded evil unto themselves.
10Say ye, Surely it shall be well with the just: for they shall eat the fruit of their works.
11Woe be to the wicked, it shall be evil with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.
12Children are extortioners of my people, and women have rule over them: O my people, they that lead thee, cause thee to err, and destroy the way of thy paths.
13The Lord standeth up to plead, yea, he standeth to judge the people.
14The Lord shall enter into judgment with the Ancients of his people and the princes thereof: for ye have eaten up the vineyard: the spoil of the poor is in your houses.
15What have ye to do that ye beat my people to pieces, and grind the faces of the poor, saith the Lord, even the Lord of hosts?
16The Lord also saith, Because the daughters of Zion are haughty, and walk with stretched out necks, and with wandering eyes, walking and mincing as they go, and making a tinkling with their feet,
17Therefore shall the Lord make the heads of the daughters of Zion bald, and the Lord shall discover their secret parts.
18In that day shall the Lord take away the ornament of the slippers, and the cauls, and the round tyres,
19The sweet balls, and the bracelets, and the bonnets,
20The tyres of the head, and the slops, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings,
21The rings and the mufflers,
22The costly apparel and the veils, and the wimples, and the crisping pins,
23And the glasses and the fine linen, and the hoods and the lawns.
24And instead of sweet savor, there shall be stink, and instead of girdle, a rent, and instead of dressing of the hair, baldness, and instead of a stomacher, a girding of sackcloth, and burning instead of beauty.
25Thy men shall fall by the sword, and thy strength in the battle.
26Then shall her gates mourn and lament, and she being desolate, shall sit upon the ground.