11-12. “So dump it on the children in the streets.Let it loose on the gangs of youth.For no one’s exempt: Husbands and wives will be taken,the old and those ready to die;Their homes will be given away—all they own, even their loved ones—When I give the signalagainst all who live in this country.”God’s Decree.
13-15. “Everyone’s after the dishonest dollar,little people and big people alike.Prophets and priests and everyone in betweentwist words and doctor truth.My people are broken—shattered!—and they put on Band-Aids,Saying, ‘It’s not so bad. You’ll be just fine.’But things are not ‘just fine’!Do you suppose they are embarrassedover this outrage?No, they have no shame.They don’t even know how to blush.There’s no hope for them. They’ve hit bottomand there’s no getting up.As far as I’m concerned,they’re finished.”God has spoken.
16-20. God’s Message yet again:“Go stand at the crossroads and look around.Ask for directions to the old road,The tried-and-true road. Then take it.Discover the right route for your souls.But they said, ‘Nothing doing.We aren’t going that way.’I even provided watchmen for themto warn them, to set off the alarm.But the people said, ‘It’s a false alarm.It doesn’t concern us.’And so I’m calling in the nations as witnesses:‘Watch, witnesses, what happens to them!’And, ‘Pay attention, Earth!Don’t miss these bulletins.’I’m visiting catastrophe on this people, the end resultof the games they’ve been playing with me.They’ve ignored everything I’ve said,had nothing but contempt for my teaching.What would I want with incense brought in from Sheba,rare spices from exotic places?Your burnt sacrifices in worship give me no pleasure.Your religious rituals mean nothing to me.”
21. So listen to this. Here’s God’s verdict on your way of life:“Watch out! I’m putting roadblocks and barrierson the road you’re taking.They’ll send you sprawling,parents and children, neighbors and friends—and that will be the end of the lot of you.”
22-23. And listen to this verdict from God:“Look out! An invasion from the north,a mighty power on the move from a faraway place:Armed to the teeth,vicious and pitiless,Booming like sea storm and thunder—tramp, tramp, tramp—riding hard on war horses,In battle formationagainst you, dear Daughter Zion!”
24-25. We’ve heard the news,and we’re as limp as wet dishrags.We’re paralyzed with fear.Terror has a death grip on our throats.Don’t dare go outdoors!Don’t leave the house!Death is on the prowl.Danger everywhere!
26. “Dear Daughter Zion: Dress in black.Blacken your face with ashes.Weep most bitterly,as for an only child.The countdown has begun . . .six, five, four, three . . .The Terror is on us!”
27-30. God gave me this task:“I have made you the examiner of my people,to examine and weigh their lives.They’re a thickheaded, hard-nosed bunch,rotten to the core, the lot of them.Refining fires are cranked up to white heat,but the ore stays a lump, unchanged.It’s useless to keep trying any longer.Nothing can refine evil out of them.Men will give up and call them ‘slag,’thrown on the slag heap by me, their God.”