New English [1970], THE NEW ENGLISH BIBLE (OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS; CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE) [word count] [B16000].
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1 Be warned: the Lord, the Lord of Hosts,
is stripping Jerusalem and Judah
of every prop and stay, note
2 warrior and soldier,
judge and prophet, diviner and elder,
3 captains of companies note and men of rank,
counsellor, magician, and cunning enchanter.
4 Then I will appoint mere boys to be their captains,
who shall govern as the fancy takes them;
5 the people shall deal harshly
each man with his fellow and with his neighbour;
children shall break out against their elders,
and nobodies against men of substance.
6 If a man takes hold of his brother in his father's house,
saying, ‘You have a cloak, you shall be our chief;
our stricken family shall be under you’,
7 he will cry out that day and say,
‘I will not be your master;
there is neither bread nor cloak in my house,
and you shall not make me head of the clan.’
-- --
Judah arraigned
8 Jerusalem is stricken and Judah fallen
because they have spoken and acted against the Lord,
rebelling against the glance of his glorious eye.
9 The look on their faces testifies against them;
like Sodom they proclaim their sins
and do not conceal them. note
Woe upon them! they have earned their own disaster.
10 Happy note the righteous man! all goes well with him,
for such men enjoy the fruit of their actions.
11 Woe betide the wicked! with him all goes ill,
for he reaps the reward that he has earned.
12 Money-lenders strip my people bare,
and usurers lord it over them.
O my people! your guides lead you astray
and confuse the path that you should take.
13 The Lord comes forward to argue his case
and stands to judge his people. note
14 The Lord opens the indictment
against the elders of his people and their officers:
You have ravaged the vineyard,
and the spoils of the poor are in your houses.
15 Is it nothing to you that you crush my people
and grind the faces of the poor?
This is the very word of the Lord, the Lord of Hosts.
16 Then the Lord said:
Because the women of Zion hold themselves high
and walk with necks outstretched and wanton glances,
moving with mincing gait
and jingling feet,
17 the Lord will give the women of Zion bald heads,
the Lord will strip the hair from their foreheads.
18 In that day the Lord will take away all finery: anklets, discs,
crescents,
19
20 pendants, bangles, coronets, head-bands, armlets, necklaces,
lockets,
21
22 charms, signets, nose-rings, fine dresses, mantles, cloaks,
flounced skirts,
23 scarves of gauze, kerchiefs of linen, turbans, and
flowing veils.
24 So instead of perfume you shall have the stench of decay,
and a rope in place of a girdle,
baldness instead of hair elegantly coiled,
a loin-cloth of sacking instead of a mantle,
-- --
Judah arraigned
and branding instead of beauty.
25 Your men shall fall by the sword,
and your warriors in battle;
26 then Zion's gates shall mourn and lament,
and she shall sit on the ground stripped bare.
New English [1970], THE NEW ENGLISH BIBLE (OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS; CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE) [word count] [B16000].
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