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3. Judgment on Jerusalem and Judah

¹ See now, the Lord,
   the LORD Almighty,
is about to take from Jerusalem and Judah
   both supply and support:
all supplies of food and all supplies of water,
    ² the hero and the warrior,
the judge and the prophet,
   the diviner and the elder,
³ the captain of fifty and the man of rank,
   the counselor, skilled craftsman and clever enchanter.

⁴ “I will make mere youths their officials;
children will rule over them.”

    ⁵ People will oppress each other—
   man against man, neighbor against neighbor.
The young will rise up against the old,
   the nobody against the honored.

    ⁶ A man will seize one of his brothers
   in his father’s house, and say,
“You have a cloak, you be our leader;
   take charge of this heap of ruins!”
⁷ But in that day he will cry out,
   “I have no remedy.
I have no food or clothing in my house;
   do not make me the leader of the people.”

    ⁸ Jerusalem staggers,
   Judah is falling;
their words and deeds are against the LORD,
   defying his glorious presence.
⁹ The look on their faces testifies against them;
   they parade their sin like Sodom;
   they do not hide it.
Woe to them!
   They have brought disaster upon themselves.

    ¹⁰ Tell the righteous it will be well with them,
   for they will enjoy the fruit of their deeds.
¹¹ Woe to the wicked!
   Disaster is upon them!
They will be paid back
   for what their hands have done.

    ¹² Youths oppress my people,
   women rule over them.
My people, your guides lead you astray;
   they turn you from the path.

    ¹³ The LORD takes his place in court;
   he rises to judge the people.
¹⁴ The LORD enters into judgment
   against the elders and leaders of his people:
“It is you who have ruined my vineyard;
   the plunder from the poor is in your houses.
¹⁵ What do you mean by crushing my people
   and grinding the faces of the poor?” declares the Lord, the LORD Almighty.

    ¹⁶ The LORD says,
   “The women of Zion are haughty,
walking along with outstretched necks,
   flirting with their eyes,
strutting along with swaying hips,
   with ornaments jingling on their ankles.
¹⁷ Therefore the Lord will bring sores on the heads of the women of Zion;
   the LORD will make their scalps bald.”

¹⁸ In that day the Lord will snatch away their finery: the bangles and headbands and crescent necklaces, ¹⁹ the earrings and bracelets and veils, ²⁰ the headdresses and anklets and sashes, the perfume bottles and charms, ²¹ the signet rings and nose rings, ²² the fine robes and the capes and cloaks, the purses ²³ and mirrors, and the linen garments and tiaras and shawls.

    ²⁴ Instead of fragrance there will be a stench;
   instead of a sash, a rope;
instead of well-dressed hair, baldness;
   instead of fine clothing, sackcloth;
   instead of beauty, branding.
²⁵ Your men will fall by the sword,
   your warriors in battle.
²⁶ The gates of Zion will lament and mourn;
   destitute, she will sit on the ground.

9. The proof of their countenance will answer in them, or, will answer against them ⁵⁹⁵⁹ See p. 122. As the Prophet had to do with impudent and brazen-faced hypocrites, who impudently boasted that they were good men; so he says that their countenance testifies what kind of persons they are, and that it will not be necessary to bring witnesses from a distance, in order to prove their wickedness; for to answer means “to bear testimony,” or “to confess.” Although, therefore, they disguise their face and countenance, so that they frequently deceive others, yet God compels them to show and prove what they are; so that, in spite of themselves they carry, as it were, in their forehead a mark of their deceit and hypocrisy.

Some explain it, that their crimes are so manifest that they cannot avoid seeing, as in a mirror, the baseness which they desire to conceal But the former meaning is confirmed by what immediately follows, that they declared their sin in the same manner as the inhabitants of Sodom. By these words he intimates that they devoted themselves to iniquity in such a manner, that they boasted of their transgressions without any shame; as if it had been honorable and praiseworthy in them to trample on every distinction between right and wrong, and not to indulge in every kind of wickedness. On this account he compares them to the inhabitants of Sodom, (Genesis 18:20; 19:5,) who were so much blinded by their lusts, that they rushed, with brutish stupidity, to everything base. So, then, this is the answer of the countenance, which he mentioned a little before, that they carry about with them plain tokens of impiety, which are abundantly sufficient to prove their guilt.

Woe unto their soul! Here he declares what was formerly mentioned, that the whole cause of their calamities is to be found in themselves; for by their sins and iniquities they provoked the Lord; and consequently that they have no means of evasion, that it is useless to contrive idle pretenses, because the evil itself dwells in their bones; as if he had said, “God cannot be accused, as if he punished you unjustly. Acknowledge that it has been done by yourselves; give glory to a righteous judge and lay the whole blame on yourselves.”