1. The filthy, stained city is as good as dead;the city filled with oppressors is finished!
2. She is disobedient;she refuses correction.She does not trust the Lord;she does not seek the advice of her God.
3. Her princes are as fierce as roaring lions;her rulers are as hungry as wolves in the desert,who completely devour their prey by morning.
4. Her prophets are proud;they are deceitful men.Her priests defile what is holy;they break God’s laws.
5. The just Lord resides within her;he commits no unjust acts.Every morning he reveals his justice.At dawn he appears without fail.Yet the unjust know no shame.
6. “I destroyed nations;their walled cities are in ruins.I turned their streets into ruins;no one passes through them.Their cities are desolate;no one lives there.
7. I thought, ‘Certainly you will respect me!Now you will accept correction!’If she had done so, her home would not be destroyedby all the punishments I have threatened.But they eagerly sinnedin everything they did.
8. Therefore you must wait patiently for me,” says the Lord,“for the day when I attack and take plunder.I have decided to gather nations togetherand assemble kingdoms,so I can pour out my fury on them – all my raging anger.For the whole earth will be consumedby my fiery anger.
9. Know for sure that I will then enablethe nations to give me acceptable praise.All of them will invoke the Lord’s name when they pray,and will worship him in unison.
10. From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia,those who pray to me will bring me tribute.
11. In that day you will not be ashamed of all your rebelliousness against me,for then I will remove from your midst those who proudly boast,and you will never again be arrogant on my holy hill.