The Degenerate City

[21] How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers. [22] Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water: [23] Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them. [24] Therefore saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts, the mighty One of Israel, Ah, I will ease me of mine adversaries, and avenge me of mine enemies: [25] And I will turn my hand upon thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin: [26] And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellers as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city. [27] Zion shall be redeemed with judgment, and her converts with righteousness. [28] And the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners shall be together, and they that forsake the LORD shall be consumed. [29] For they shall be ashamed of the oaks which ye have desired, and ye shall be confounded for the gardens that ye have chosen. [30] For ye shall be as an oak whose leaf fadeth, and as a garden that hath no water. [31] And the strong shall be as tow, and the maker of it as a spark, and they shall both burn together, and none shall quench them.

Say, I am your sign: like as I have done, so shall it be done unto them: they shall remove and go into captivity.

Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?

How is the faithful city become an harlot! it was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers.

And the prince that is among them shall bear upon his shoulder in the twilight, and shall go forth: they shall dig through the wall to carry out thereby: he shall cover his face, that he see not the ground with his eyes.

Say thou unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; This burden concerneth the prince in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel that are among them.

My net also will I spread upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare: and I will bring him to Babylon to the land of the Chaldeans; yet shall he not see it, though he shall die there.

These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

Thy silver is become dross, thy wine mixed with water:

Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellers as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.