1 Woe to those who scheme iniquity and plot evil as they lie in bed! As soon as morning dawns they do it, since they have the power to.
2 They want fields and grab them, houses, and carry them off; they crush a man and his household, a man and the property he inherited.
3 So this is what the LORD says: Look, I am plotting calamity against this clan, a yoke you will not slip your necks out of; you will no longer walk with heads high, for it will be an evil time.
4 On that day people will make up a proverb about you and wail a mournful dirge: "We are completely plundered! He trades away my people's share. How he strips it from me! He parcels out our fields to the rebel."
5 So there will be no one of yours to stretch the measuring line by lot in the LORD's assembly.
6 "Quit your prophesying," they prophesy. "No one should prophesy about such things; disgrace will not come back on us."
7 Should it be said, house of Jacob, "Has the Spirit of the LORD run short of patience? Are these the things he does?" Do my words not bring good to the one whose walk is upright?
8 Not long ago my people rose up as an enemy. You tear the cloak off the garment of those passing by without a care, like men coming home from war.
9 You evict the women of my people from the homes they love; you rob their little ones of my glory for all time.
10 Get up and leave! This is no resting place, since it has become unclean; it will be destroyed, and the destruction will be painful.
11 If someone who goes around spouting wind and falsehood were to lie, "I will prophesy to you about wine and beer," he would be just the prophet for this people!
12 I will gather you, Jacob, every one of you; I will bring the remnant of Israel together; I will put them all together like sheep in a pen, like a flock in the middle of its pasture; they will hum with people.
13 The one who breaks open the way will go up ahead of them; they will burst through, pass through the gate and leave by it; their king will go on before them, the LORD leading them.