God Warns His People

Pay attention, you foolish and stupid people, who have eyes, but cannot see, and have ears, but cannot hear. I am the Lord; why don’t you fear me? Why don’t you tremble before me? I placed the sand as the boundary of the sea, a permanent boundary that it cannot cross. The sea may toss, but it cannot go beyond it; the waves may roar, but they cannot break through. But you people! You are stubborn and rebellious; you have turned aside and left me. You never thought to honor me, even though I send the autumn rains and the spring rains and give you the harvest season each year. Instead, your sins have kept these good things from you.

“Evildoers live among my people; they lie in wait like those who lay nets to catch birds, but they have set their traps to catch people. Just as a hunter fills a cage with birds, they have filled their houses with loot. That is why they are powerful and rich, why they are fat and well fed. There is no limit to their evil deeds. They do not give orphans their rights or show justice to the oppressed.

“But I, the Lord, will punish them for these things; I will take revenge on this nation. A terrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: prophets speak nothing but lies; priests rule as the prophets command, and my people offer no objections. But what will they do when it all comes to an end?”