1 Woe to those that devise wickedness, and resolve on evil upon their couches! by the first light of the morning they execute it, if they have it in the power of their hand. 2 And they covet fields, and rob them; and houses, and take them away: so they defraud the master and his house, and the man and his heritage. 3 Therefore thus hath said the Lord, Behold, I will devise against this family an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; nor shall ye go erect; for it is an evil time. 4 On that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a mournful lamentation, and say, “We are utterly wasted: the portion of my people hath he exchanged; how hath he removed it from me! instead of restoring them to us he divideth our fields.” 5 Therefore shalt thou have none that shall draw the measuring cord in his lot in the congregation of the Lord. 6 “Preach not;” but they shall preach: they shall not preach indeed to these, that reproach may not overtake them. 7 Shall it be said in the house of Jacob, Is the spirit of the Lord straightened? are these his doings? Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? 8 But long since is my people risen up as an enemy: from the garment do you pull off the ornament; of those that pass by securely ye make men returned from war. 9 The wives of my people do you drive out of their delightful houses; from their children do ye take away my ornament for ever. 10 Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your resting-place; because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a grievous destruction. 11 If a man that goeth after wind and lieth with falsehood should say, “I will preach unto thee of wine and of strong drink:” he would be a preacher for this people. 12 I will once surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather up the remnant of Israel; I will place them together as flocks in the fold, as droves in the midst of their pen: they shall be crowded with men. 13 The wall-breaker cometh up before them; they break in and pass through the gate, and go out by it: and their king passeth on before them, and the Lord at their head.