How terrible it will be for you who make laws that aren’t fair! How terrible for you who write laws that make life hard for others!

祸哉！那些设立不义之律例的和记录奸诈之判语的，

祸哉！那些设立不义之律例的，和记录奸诈之判词的，

祸哉！那些设立不义之律例的，和记录奸诈之判词的，

制定不义律例、起草不公法令的人啊，你们有祸了！

那些制定奸恶律例的，和那些记录诡诈判语的，有祸了！

祸哉！那些制定邪恶律例、记录不义判决的！

禍哉！那些設立不義之律例的和記錄奸詐之判語的，

禍哉！那些設立不義之律例的，和記錄奸詐之判詞的，

禍哉！那些設立不義之律例的，和記錄奸詐之判詞的，

制定不義律例、起草不公法令的人啊，你們有禍了！

那些制定奸惡律例的，和那些記錄詭詐判語的，有禍了！

有禍啊，那些制定奸惡之律例的，和那些忙於記錄毒害人之判語的！

禍哉！那些制定邪惡律例、記錄不義判決的！

立不義之律、錄乖戾之詞、

立法嚴酷、載之典章、虐遇其民、其有禍乎。

立不善之法度、錄不義之判語、

Woe to those who make unjust laws, to those who issue oppressive decrees,

Woe to those who decree iniquitous decrees, and the writers who keep writing oppression,

What sorrow awaits the unjust judges and those who issue unfair laws.

Woe to those enacting crooked statutes and writing oppressive laws

Woe to those who enact unjust statutes And to those who constantly record harmful decisions,

“ Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, Who write misfortune, Which they have prescribed

Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers that write perverseness;

Woe to those enacting crooked statutes and writing oppressive laws

Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness[ which] they have prescribed;

Those who enact unjust policies are as good as dead, those who are always instituting unfair regulations,

Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, and to the writers who write oppressive decrees;

“ How terrible for you authorities on the law! You have taken away the key to the door of knowledge. You yourselves have not entered. And you have stood in the way of those who were entering.”

“ How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You give God a tenth of your spices, like mint, dill and cumin. But you have not practiced the more important things of the law, which are fairness, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the last things without failing to do the first.

“ How terrible it will be for you Pharisees! You give God a tenth of your garden plants, such as mint and rue. But you have forgotten to be fair and to love God. You should have practiced the last things without failing to do the first.“ How terrible for you Pharisees! You love the most important seats in the synagogues. You love having people greet you with respect in the market.“ How terrible for you! You are like graves that are not marked. People walk over them without knowing it.”

How terrible it will be for you who get too many houses! How terrible for you who get too many fields! Finally there won’t be any space left in the land. Then you will live all alone.

Then I said,“ Listen, you leaders of Jacob’s people! Pay attention, you rulers of Israel! You should want to judge others fairly.But you hate what is good. And you love what is evil. You are like someone who tears the skin off my people. You pull the meat off their bones.You eat my people’s bodies. You strip off their skin. You break their bones in pieces. You chop them up like meat. You put them in a cooking pot.”The time will come when Israel will cry out to the Lord. But he won’t answer them. In fact, he’ll turn his face away from them. They have done what is evil.

“ Won’t those people laugh at the Babylonians? Won’t they make fun of them? They will say to them,“‘ How terrible it will be for you who pile up stolen goods! You get rich by cheating others. How long will this go on?’

Can you have anything to do with rulers who aren’t fair? Can those who make laws that cause suffering be friends of yours?Evil people join together against those who do what is right. They sentence to death those who aren’t guilty of doing anything wrong.

“ How terrible it will be for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter. And you will not let those enter who are trying to.

Jesus replied,“ How terrible for you authorities on the law! You put such heavy loads on people that they can hardly carry them. But you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.“ How terrible for you! You build tombs for the prophets. It was your people of long ago who killed them.

How terrible it will be for those who say that what is evil is good! How terrible for those who say that what is good is evil! How terrible for those who say that darkness is light and light is darkness! How terrible for those who say that what is bitter is sweet and what is sweet is bitter!How terrible it will be for those who think they are wise! How terrible for those who think they are really clever!How terrible it will be for those who are heroes at drinking wine! How terrible for those who are heroes at mixing drinks!

You have followed the evil practices of King Omri of Israel. You have done what the family of King Ahab did. You have followed their bad example. So I will let you be destroyed. Others will make fun of you. The nations will laugh at you.”

How terrible it will be for those who continue to sin and lie about it! How terrible for those who keep on doing what is evil as if they were tied to it!

“ How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You are like tombs that are painted white. They look beautiful on the outside. But on the inside they are full of the bones of the dead. They are also full of other things that are not pure and‘ clean.’

“ How terrible for you, teachers of the law and Pharisees! You pretenders! You build tombs for the prophets. You decorate the graves of the godly.

The Lord says,“ How terrible it will be for King Jehoiakim! He builds his palace by mistreating his people. He builds its upstairs rooms with money gained by sinning. He makes his own people work for nothing. He does not pay them for what they do.

“ How terrible it will be for the Babylonians! They build their kingdom with money that they gained by cheating others. They have tried to make the kingdom as secure as possible. After all, they did not want to be destroyed.

Listen to me, you leaders of Jacob’s people! Pay attention, you rulers of Israel! You hate to do what is fair. You twist everything that is right.You build up Zion by spilling the blood of others. You build Jerusalem by doing what is evil.Your judges take money from people who want special favors. Your priests teach only if they get paid for it. Your prophets won’t tell fortunes unless they receive money. But you still look for the Lord’ s help. You say,“ The Lord is with us. No trouble will come on us.”

Now give the order. Write it down in the law of the Medes and Persians. Then it can’t be changed.”So King Darius put the order in writing.

“ How terrible it will be for you, Chorazin! How terrible for you, Bethsaida! Suppose the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon. They would have turned away from their sins long ago. They would have put on clothes for mourning. They would have sat down in ashes.

How terrible it will be for the Babylonians! They say to a wooden god,‘ Come to life!’ They say to a stone god,‘ Wake up!’ Can those gods give advice? They are covered with gold and silver. They can’t even breathe.”

As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted,“ Crucify him! Crucify him!” But Pilate answered,“ You take him and crucify him. I myself find no basis for a charge against him.”

“ How terrible it will be for the Babylonians! They build cities by spilling the blood of others. They establish towns by doing what is wrong.

“ How terrible it will be for the Babylonians! They give drinks to their neighbors. They pour the drinks from wineskins until their neighbors are drunk. They want to look at their naked bodies.

His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jewish leaders. The leaders had already made this decision about Jesus. Anyone who said Jesus was the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue.

The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But how terrible it will be for the one who hands over the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

No, in your hearts you plan to be unfair. With your hands you do terrible things on the earth.

So the king took his ring off his finger. The ring had his royal seal on it. He gave the ring to Haman. Haman was the son of Hammedatha, the Agagite. Haman was the enemy of the Jews.“ Keep the money,” the king said to Haman.“ Do what you want to with those people.”The king sent for the royal secretaries. It was the 13th day of the first month. The secretaries wrote down all Haman’s orders. They wrote them down in the writing of each territory in the kingdom. They also wrote them in the language of each nation. The orders were sent to the royal officials and to the governors of the territories. And the orders were also sent to the nobles of the nations. The orders were written in the name of King Xerxes himself. And they were stamped with his own official mark.They were carried by messengers. They were sent to all the king’s territories. The orders commanded people to destroy, kill and wipe out all the Jews. That included young people and old people alike. It included women and children. All the Jews were supposed to be killed on a single day. That day was the 13th day of the 12th month. It was the month of Adar. The orders also commanded people to take everything that belonged to the Jews.

How terrible it will be for them! They have followed the way of Cain. They have rushed into the same mistake Balaam made. They did it because they loved money. They are like Korah. He turned against his leaders. These people will certainly be destroyed, just as Korah was.

How terrible it will be for those who get up early in the morning to start drinking! How terrible for those who stay up late at night until they are drunk with wine!

But how terrible it will be for those who do what is evil! Trouble is about to fall on them. They will be paid back for the evil things they’ve done.

Then two worthless and evil men came and sat across from him. They brought charges against Naboth in front of the people. The two men said,“ Naboth has cursed God and the king.” So they took him outside the city. They killed him by throwing stones at him.