Understand what I am telling you: The Lord God All-Powerful will take away everything Judah and Jerusalem depend on. He will take away all the food and water.
He will take away the army officers and important officials. He will take away the skilled counselors, the magicians, and those who try to tell the future.
In those days a man will grab one of his brothers from his own family and tell him, "You have a coat, so you will be our leader. You will be the leader over all these ruins."
This will happen because Jerusalem has stumbled, and Judah has fallen. They turned against the Lord. They said and did things against him, right in front of his glorious eyes.
The look on their faces shows that they are guilty. They are like the people of Sodom; they don't care who sees their sin. But it will be very bad for them. They will get what they deserve.
Even children will defeat my people, and women will rule over them. My people, your guides lead you the wrong way, and they destroy the path you should follow.
The Lord is ready to present his case against the elders and leaders of his people. The Lord says, "You people have burned the vineyard, and what you stole from the poor is still in your houses.
What gives you the right to hurt my people? What gives you the right to push the faces of the poor into the dirt?" The Lord God All- Powerful said this.
The Lord says, "The women in Zion have become very proud. They walk around with their heads in the air, acting like they are better than other people. They flirt with their eyes and make tinkling sounds with their ankle bracelets as they take their quick little steps."
Those women now have sweet-smelling perfume, but it will get moldy and stink. Now they wear belts, but then they will have only ropes to wear. Now they have their hair fixed in fancy ways, but then their heads will be shaved—they will have no hair. Now they have party dresses, but then they will have only mourning clothes. They have beauty marks on their faces now, but then they will have another mark. It will be a mark burned into their skin to show that they are slaves.
There will be crying and sadness in the meeting places by the city gates. Jerusalem will sit there empty, like a woman who has lost everything to thieves and robbers and now just sits on the ground and cries.