People’s Plans and God’s Plans
1How terrible it will be for those
who plan to harm others!
How terrible for those who make evil plans
before they even get out of bed!
As soon as daylight comes,
they carry out their plans.
That’s because they have the power to do it.
2If they want fields or houses,
they take them.
They cheat people out of their homes.
They rob them of their property.
3So the Lord says to them,
“I am planning to send trouble on you.
You will not be able to save yourselves from it.
You will not live so proudly anymore.
It will be a time of trouble.
4At that time people will make fun of you.
They will tease you by singing a song of sadness.
They will pretend to be you and say,
‘We are totally destroyed.
Our enemies have divided up our land.
The Lord has taken it away from us!
He has given our fields to those
who turned against us.’ ”
5So you won’t even have anyone left
in the Lord’s community
who can divide up the land for you.
Some Prophets Aren’t Really Prophets at All
6“Don’t prophesy,” the people’s prophets say.
“Don’t prophesy about bad things.
Nothing shameful is going to happen to us.”
7People of Jacob, should anyone say,
“The Lord is patient,
so he wouldn’t do things like that”?
The Lord replies, “What I promise brings good things
to those who lead honest lives.
8But lately my people have attacked one another
as if they were enemies.
You strip off the rich robes
from those who happen to pass by.
They thought they were as safe as men
returning from a battle they had won.
9You drive the women among my people
out of their pleasant homes.
You take away my blessing
from their children forever.
10Get up! Leave this land!
It is no longer your resting place.
You have made it ‘unclean.’
You have completely destroyed it.
11Suppose a prophet goes around telling lies.
And he prophesies that you will have
plenty of wine and beer.
Then that kind of prophet would be
just right for this nation!
The Lord Promises to Save His People
12“People of Jacob, I will gather all of you.
I will bring together
you who are still left alive in Israel.
I will gather you together like sheep in a pen.
You will be like a flock in its grasslands.
Your country will be filled with people.
13I will open the way for you to return.
I will march in front of you.
You will break through the city gates and go free.
I am your King. I will pass through the gates
in front of you.
I, the Lord, will lead the way.”
Human Plans and God’s Plans
1Woe to those who plan iniquity,
to those who plot evil on their beds!
At morning’s light they carry it out
because it is in their power to do it.
2They covet fields and seize them,
and houses, and take them.
They defraud people of their homes,
they rob them of their inheritance.
3Therefore, the Lord says:
“I am planning disaster against this people,
from which you cannot save yourselves.
You will no longer walk proudly,
for it will be a time of calamity.
4In that day people will ridicule you;
they will taunt you with this mournful song:
‘We are utterly ruined;
my people’s possession is divided up.
He takes it from me!
He assigns our fields to traitors.’ ”
5Therefore you will have no one in the assembly of the Lord
to divide the land by lot.
False Prophets
6“Do not prophesy,” their prophets say.
“Do not prophesy about these things;
disgrace will not overtake us.”
7You descendants of Jacob, should it be said,
“Does the Lord become2:7 Or Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient?
Does he do such things?”
“Do not my words do good
to the one whose ways are upright?
8Lately my people have risen up
like an enemy.
You strip off the rich robe
from those who pass by without a care,
like men returning from battle.
9You drive the women of my people
from their pleasant homes.
You take away my blessing
from their children forever.
10Get up, go away!
For this is not your resting place,
because it is defiled,
it is ruined, beyond all remedy.
11If a liar and deceiver comes and says,
‘I will prophesy for you plenty of wine and beer,’
that would be just the prophet for this people!
Deliverance Promised
12“I will surely gather all of you, Jacob;
I will surely bring together the remnant of Israel.
I will bring them together like sheep in a pen,
like a flock in its pasture;
the place will throng with people.
13The One who breaks open the way will go up before them;
they will break through the gate and go out.
Their King will pass through before them,
the Lord at their head.”
