Woe to those who draw sin along with cords of deceit, and wickedness as with cart ropes,

祸哉！那些以虚假之细绳牵罪孽的人！他们又像以套绳拉罪恶，

祸哉！那些以虚假的绳子牵引罪孽，以套车的绳索紧拉罪恶的人。

祸哉！那些以虚假的绳子牵引罪孽，以套车的绳索紧拉罪恶的人。

那些用虚假作绳子扯来罪恶，用套绳拉来邪恶的人有祸了！

那些人虚假的绳索牵引罪孽，又像用车绳拉罪恶的人，有祸了！

祸哉！他们那样的人！他们用虚谎之绳牵拉罪孽、牵拉罪恶，就像用套车之绳一样。

禍哉！那些以虛假之細繩牽罪孽的人！他們又像以套繩拉罪惡，

禍哉！那些以虛假的繩子牽引罪孽，以套車的繩索緊拉罪惡的人。

禍哉！那些以虛假的繩子牽引罪孽，以套車的繩索緊拉罪惡的人。

那些用虛假作繩子扯來罪惡，用套繩拉來邪惡的人有禍了！

那些人虛假的繩索牽引罪孽，又像用車繩拉罪惡的人，有禍了！

有禍啊，那些以虛謊的繩索牽引着罪罰，像以套車粗繩拉罪之報應的人；

禍哉！他們那樣的人！他們用虛謊之繩牽拉罪孽、牽拉罪惡，就像用套車之繩一樣。

以虛偽為繩引邪惡、如以曳車之索牽罪戾、禍哉其人、

人行惡而取戾、若以索曳車、其有禍乎、

禍哉斯人、以惡為索、牽引災罰、亦如以曳車之巨繩、牽引罪報、

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!

Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes,

What sorrow for those who drag their sins behind them with ropes made of lies, who drag wickedness behind them like a cart!

Woe to those who drag iniquity with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes,

Woe to those who drag wrongdoing with the cords of deceit, And sin as if with cart ropes;

Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of vanity, And sin as if with a cart rope;

Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with a cart rope;

Woe to those who drag wickedness with cords of deceit and pull sin along with cart ropes,

Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope:

Those who pull evil along using cords of emptiness are as good as dead, who pull sin as with cart ropes.

Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and wickedness as with cart rope,

And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that not one of them turns from their wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.”

The land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land lies parched and the pastures in the wilderness are withered. The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly.

The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?

They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.

“‘ Because they lead my people astray, saying,“ Peace,” when there is no peace, and because, when a flimsy wall is built, they cover it with whitewash,therefore tell those who cover it with whitewash that it is going to fall. Rain will come in torrents, and I will send hailstones hurtling down, and violent winds will burst forth.

In their own eyes they flatter themselves too much to detect or hate their sin.

“ I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household gods and installed one of his sons as his priest.

They crush your people, Lord; they oppress your inheritance.They slay the widow and the foreigner; they murder the fatherless.They say,“ The Lord does not see; the God of Jacob takes no notice.”Take notice, you senseless ones among the people; you fools, when will you become wise?Does he who fashioned the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see?Does he who disciplines nations not punish? Does he who teaches mankind lack knowledge?The Lord knows all human plans; he knows that they are futile.

At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are complacent, who are like wine left on its dregs, who think,‘ The Lord will do nothing, either good or bad.’

He says to himself,“ God will never notice; he covers his face and never sees.”

Why then have these people turned away? Why does Jerusalem always turn away? They cling to deceit; they refuse to return.I have listened attentively, but they do not say what is right. None of them repent of their wickedness, saying,“ What have I done?” Each pursues their own course like a horse charging into battle.Even the stork in the sky knows her appointed seasons, and the dove, the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But my people do not know the requirements of the Lord.“‘ How can you say,“ We are wise, for we have the law of the Lord,” when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely?The wise will be put to shame; they will be dismayed and trapped. Since they have rejected the word of the Lord, what kind of wisdom do they have?

Absalom said to Ahithophel,“ Give us your advice. What should we do?”Ahithophel answered,“ Sleep with your father’s concubines whom he left to take care of the palace. Then all Israel will hear that you have made yourself obnoxious to your father, and the hands of everyone with you will be more resolute.”So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and he slept with his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.Now in those days the advice Ahithophel gave was like that of one who inquires of God. That was how both David and Absalom regarded all of Ahithophel’s advice.

Then all the men who knew that their wives were burning incense to other gods, along with all the women who were present— a large assembly— and all the people living in Lower and Upper Egypt, said to Jeremiah,“ We will not listen to the message you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord!We will certainly do everything we said we would: We will burn incense to the Queen of Heaven and will pour out drink offerings to her just as we and our ancestors, our kings and our officials did in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. At that time we had plenty of food and were well off and suffered no harm.But ever since we stopped burning incense to the Queen of Heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have had nothing and have been perishing by sword and famine.”The women added,“ When we burned incense to the Queen of Heaven and poured out drink offerings to her, did not our husbands know that we were making cakes impressed with her image and pouring out drink offerings to her?”

And Micah said,“ Now I know that the Lord will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest.”

Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them?” declares the Lord.“ Do not I fill heaven and earth?” declares the Lord.

The fool says in his heart,“ There is no God.” They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.

Because you disheartened the righteous with your lies, when I had brought them no grief, and because you encouraged the wicked not to turn from their evil ways and so save their lives,

No one calls for justice; no one pleads a case with integrity. They rely on empty arguments, they utter lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to evil.They hatch the eggs of vipers and spin a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, and when one is broken, an adder is hatched.Their cobwebs are useless for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are evil deeds, and acts of violence are in their hands.Their feet rush into sin; they are swift to shed innocent blood. They pursue evil schemes; acts of violence mark their ways.The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks along them will know peace.

Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet,“ Listen, Hananiah! The Lord has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies.Therefore this is what the Lord says:‘ I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the Lord.’”

You boast,“ We have entered into a covenant with death, with the realm of the dead we have made an agreement. When an overwhelming scourge sweeps by, it cannot touch us, for we have made a lie our refuge and falsehood our hiding place.”