Saturday in Season after Pentecost

14Verse 14. Why are we just sitting here? Gather together, let us flee to the fortified cities and perish there, for the LORD our God has doomed us. He has given us poisoned water to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD. 15Verse 15. We hoped for peace, but no good has come, for a time of healing, but there was only terror. 16Verse 16. The snorting of enemy horses is heard from Dan. At the sound of the neighing of mighty steeds, the whole land quakes. They come to devour the land and everything in it, the city and all who dwell in it. 17Verse 17. “For behold, I will send snakes among you, vipers that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you,” 2Verse 2. If only I had a traveler’s lodge in the wilderness, I would abandon my people and depart from them, for they are all adulterers, a crowd of faithless people. 3Verse 3. “They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” 4Verse 4. “Let everyone guard against his neighbor; do not trust any brother, for every brother deals craftily, and every friend spreads slander. 5Verse 5. Each one betrays his friend; no one tells the truth. They have taught their tongues to lie; they wear themselves out committing iniquity. 6Verse 6. You dwell in the midst of deception; in their deceit they refuse to know Me,” 7Verse 7. Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of the daughter of My people? 8Verse 8. Their tongues are deadly arrows; they speak deception. With his mouth a man speaks peace to his neighbor, but in his heart he sets a trap for him. 9Verse 9. Should I not punish them for these things? declares the LORD. Should I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?” 10Verse 10. I will take up a weeping and wailing for the mountains, a dirge over the wilderness pasture, for they have been scorched so no one passes through, and the lowing of cattle is not heard. Both the birds of the air and the beasts have fled; they have gone away. 11Verse 11. “And I will make Jerusalem a heap of rubble, a haunt for jackals; and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.”

8Verse 8. Woe to you who add house to house and join field to field until no place is left and you live alone in the land. 9Verse 9. I heard the LORD of Hosts declare: “Surely many houses will become desolate, great mansions left unoccupied. 10Verse 10. For ten acres of vineyard will yield but a bath of wine, and a homer of seed only an ephah of grain. ” 11Verse 11. Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine. 12Verse 12. At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands. 13Verse 13. Therefore My people will go into exile for their lack of understanding; their dignitaries are starving and their masses are parched with thirst. 14Verse 14. Therefore Sheol enlarges its throat and opens wide its enormous jaws, and down go Zion’s nobles and masses, her revelers and carousers! 15Verse 15. So mankind will be brought low, and each man humbled; the arrogant will lower their eyes. 16Verse 16. But the LORD of Hosts will be exalted by His justice, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness. 17Verse 17. Lambs will graze as in their own pastures, and strangers will feed in the ruins of the wealthy. 18Verse 18. Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes, 19Verse 19. to those who say, “Let Him hurry and hasten His work so that we may see it! Let the plan of the Holy One of Israel come so that we may know it!” 20Verse 20. Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who turn darkness to light and light to darkness, who replace bitter with sweet and sweet with bitter. 21Verse 21. Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight. 22Verse 22. Woe to those who are heroes in drinking wine and champions in mixing strong drink, 23Verse 23. who acquit the guilty for a bribe and deprive the innocent of justice.