You are bad people and you will suffer
1They will suffer because at night
they lie down in their beds,
thinking of all the wrong things
that they can do the next day.
And the next morning they do it.
They think they are strong
because they think they may do bad things.
2They want to have other people's land
and they take it.
They take a man's house and his land.
3That is why the Lord says:
‘You are bad people.
I will punish you and no one will save you.
You will suffer a lot
and you will not be proud anymore.’
The Lord will punish you
4On that day people will mock you. They will pretend to be you and sing this song of mourning and say:
‘The Lord has punished us a lot.
He has taken everything we had
and He has given it to other people.
He has given our land to the people
who have betrayed us.’
5Yes, when the congregation of the Lord
comes together
and draws_lots to see who must get land,
no one will draw_lots for you.
You will get nothing.
You have made the city impure
6You say I must not talk like this
and I must not preach
because it will not help you.
7People of Israel, you say:
‘God will not be impatient with us.
He will never do something like that.
The Lord will bless people who live in the right way.’
8But the Lord says: ‘My people,
you have become my enemies.
You have taken the clothes
from the people who came
to live in your land
and who thought they were safe with you.
You have taken the clothes from your soldiers
who came back from war.
9You have chased the women
of my people out of their beautiful homes.
You have taken the beautiful things
that I gave to their children
to belong to them forever.
10You must get up and start walking
because you will not stay here.
You have made this city impure.
The enemies will destroy the city.
They will destroy it completely.’
11These people want to have a prophet
who lies and cheats.
They want a prophet who says:
‘Give me wine and beer,
and then I will prophesy for you.’
God promises to bring back his people
12The Lord has said:
‘Descendants of Jacob,
I will bring you all back together.
I will bring together all the Israelites
who still_are_alive,
like a shepherd brings together
his sheep and goats in a kraal,
and like sheep that are in the field.
The land will be full of people again.
13I will bring them from the lands
where they are now.
I will walk in front of them
and they will come back to Jerusalem
and go in and out of its gates.
I am the Lord, their King.
I will walk in front of them,
and I will lead them.’
