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The Wickedness of Jerusalem

3Ah, soiled, defiled,
   oppressing city!
² It has listened to no voice;
   it has accepted no correction.
It has not trusted in the Lord;
   it has not drawn near to its God.

³ The officials within it
   are roaring lions;
its judges are evening wolves
   that leave nothing until the morning.
⁴ Its prophets are reckless,
   faithless persons;
its priests have profaned what is sacred,
   they have done violence to the law.
⁵ The Lord within it is righteous;
   he does no wrong.
Every morning he renders his judgement,
   each dawn without fail;
   but the unjust knows no shame.

⁶ I have cut off nations;
   their battlements are in ruins;
I have laid waste their streets
   so that no one walks in them;
their cities have been made desolate,
   without people, without inhabitants.
⁷ I said, ‘Surely the city^* will fear me,
   it will accept correction;
it will not lose sight^*
   of all that I have brought upon it.’
But they were the more eager
   to make all their deeds corrupt.

Punishment and Conversion of the Nations

⁸ Therefore wait for me, says the Lord,
   for the day when I arise as a witness.
For my decision is to gather nations,
   to assemble kingdoms,
to pour out upon them my indignation,
   all the heat of my anger;
for in the fire of my passion
   all the earth shall be consumed.

⁹ At that time I will change the speech of the peoples
   to a pure speech,
that all of them may call on the name of the Lord
   and serve him with one accord.
¹⁰ From beyond the rivers of Ethiopia^*
   my suppliants, my scattered ones,
   shall bring my offering.

¹¹ On that day you shall not be put to shame
   because of all the deeds by which you have rebelled against me;
for then I will remove from your midst
   your proudly exultant ones,
and you shall no longer be haughty
   in my holy mountain.
¹² For I will leave in the midst of you
   a people humble and lowly.
They shall seek refuge in the name of the Lord—
¹³   the remnant of Israel;
they shall do no wrong
   and utter no lies,
nor shall a deceitful tongue
   be found in their mouths.
Then they will pasture and lie down,
   and no one shall make them afraid.