14. So the Lord will cut off from Israel both head and tail, both palm branch and reed in a single day;
15. the elders and dignitaries are the head, the prophets who teach lies are the tail.
16. Those who guide this people mislead them, and those who are guided are led astray.
17. Therefore the Lord will take no pleasure in the young men, nor will he pity the fatherless and widows, for everyone is ungodly and wicked, every mouth speaks folly. Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised.
18. Surely wickedness burns like a fire; it consumes briers and thorns, it sets the forest thickets ablaze, so that it rolls upward in a column of smoke.
19. By the wrath of the Lord Almighty the land will be scorched and the people will be fuel for the fire; they will not spare one another.
20. On the right they will devour, but still be hungry; on the left they will eat, but not be satisfied. Each will feed on the flesh of their own offspring :