1 W oe to those who scheme iniquity, Who work out evil on their beds! When morning comes, they do it, For it is in the power of their hands.

¶ Woe unto those that devise iniquity and fabricate evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they put it into effect because they have power in their hands.

2 T hey covet fields and then seize them, And houses, and take them away. They rob a man and his house, A man and his inheritance.

And they coveted fields and stole them, and houses and took them away; so they oppressed the man and his house, even the man and his heritage.

3 T herefore thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am planning against this family a calamity From which you cannot remove your necks; And you will not walk haughtily, For it will be an evil time.

Therefore thus hath the LORD said; Behold, I devise an evil against this family, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye walk haughtily; for the time shall be evil.

4 “ On that day they will take up against you a taunt And utter a bitter lamentation and say, ‘We are completely destroyed! He exchanges the portion of my people; How He removes it from me! To the apostate He apportions our fields.’

In that time shall one take up a saying against you and lament with a doleful lamentation and say, We have been utterly destroyed; he has changed the portion of my people; how has he taken our fields! He has given and divided our fields unto others.

5 “ Therefore you will have no one stretching a measuring line For you by lot in the assembly of the Lord.

Therefore thou shalt have no one to cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD.

6 ‘ Do not speak out,’ so they speak out. But if they do not speak out concerning these things, Reproaches will not be turned back.

¶ Do not prophesy, they say to those that prophesy: Do not prophesy unto them that they are to understand shame.

7 “ Is it being said, O house of Jacob: ‘Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient? Are these His doings?’ Do not My words do good To the one walking uprightly?

O thou that calls thyself the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD shortened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walks uprightly?

8 “ Recently My people have arisen as an enemy— You strip the robe off the garment From unsuspecting passers-by, From those returned from war.

He who yesterday was my people is risen up as an enemy; ye pull off the robe with the garment from those that pass by as those who return from war.

9 “ The women of My people you evict, Each one from her pleasant house. From her children you take My splendor forever.

Ye have cast the women of my people out from their pleasant houses; from their children ye have taken away my continual praise.

10 “ Arise and go, For this is no place of rest Because of the uncleanness that brings on destruction, A painful destruction.

Arise and depart, for this is not your rest because it is polluted; it has become corrupted and with a great corruption.

11 “ If a man walking after wind and falsehood Had told lies and said, ‘I will speak out to you concerning wine and liquor,’ He would be spokesman to this people.

If there is one walking in the spirit of falsehood, he shall lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.

12 “ I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold; Like a flock in the midst of its pasture They will be noisy with men.

¶ I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah as the flock in the midst of their fold; they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.

13 “ The breaker goes up before them; They break out, pass through the gate and go out by it. So their king goes on before them, And the Lord at their head.”

The breaker shall go up before them; they shall break through and pass through the gate and go out by it; and their king shall pass before them, the LORD at the head of them.