4. Doom! Sinful nation, people weighed down with crimes,evildoing offspring, corrupt children!They have abandoned the Lord, despised the holy one of Israel;they turned their backs on God.
5. Why do you invite further beatings?Why continue to rebel?Everyone’s head throbs,and everyone’s heart fails.
6. From head to toe, none are well—only bruises, cuts, and raw wounds,not treated, not bandaged,not soothed with oil.
7. Your country is deserted,your cities burned with fire;your land—strangers are devouring it in plain sight.It’s a wasteland, as when foreigners raid.
8. Daughter Zion is left like a small shelter in a vineyard,like a hut in a cucumber field,like a city besieged.
9. If the Lord of heavenly forces had not spared a few of us,we would be like Sodom; we would resemble Gomorrah.
10. Hear the Lord’s word, you leaders of Sodom.Listen to our God’s teaching,people of Gomorrah!
11. What should I think about all your sacrifices?says the Lord.I’m fed up with entirely burned offerings of ramsand the fat of well-fed beasts.I don’t want the blood of bulls, lambs, and goats.
12. When you come to appear before me,who asked this from you,this trampling of my temple’s courts?
13. Stop bringing worthless offerings.Your incense repulses me.New moon, sabbath, and the calling of an assembly—I can’t stand wickedness with celebration!
14. I hate your new moons and your festivals.They’ve become a burden that I’m tired of bearing.