3:1 The filthy, 1 stained city is as good as dead;
the city filled with oppressors is finished! 2
3:2 She is disobedient; 3
she refuses correction. 4
She does not trust the Lord;
she does not seek the advice of 5 her God.
3:3 Her princes 6 are as fierce as roaring lions; 7
her rulers 8 are as hungry as wolves in the desert, 9
who completely devour their prey by morning. 10
3:4 Her prophets are proud; 11
they are deceitful men.
Her priests defile what is holy; 12
they break God’s laws. 13
3:5 The just Lord resides 14 within her;
he commits no unjust acts. 15
Every morning he reveals 16 his justice.
At dawn he appears without fail. 17
Yet the unjust know no shame.
3:6 “I destroyed 18 nations;
their walled cities 19 are in ruins.
I turned their streets into ruins;
no one passes through them.
Their cities are desolate; 20
no one lives there. 21
3:7 I thought, 22 ‘Certainly you will respect 23 me!
Now you will accept correction!’
If she had done so, her home 24 would not be destroyed 25
by all the punishments I have threatened. 26
But they eagerly sinned
in everything they did. 27
3:8 Therefore you must wait patiently 28 for me,” says the Lord,
“for the day when I attack and take plunder. 29
I have decided 30 to gather nations together
and assemble kingdoms,
so I can pour out my fury on them –
all my raging anger.
For 31 the whole earth will be consumed
by my fiery anger.