Jeremiah 34:10
34:10 All the people and their leaders had agreed to this. They had agreed to free their male and female slaves and not keep them enslaved any longer. They originally complied with the covenant and freed them.
Ezekiel 22:27-31
22:27 Her officials are like wolves in her midst rending their prey – shedding blood and destroying lives – so they can get dishonest profit.
22:28 Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash.
They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying, ‘This is what the sovereign
Lord says,’ when the
Lord has not spoken.
22:29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy; they have oppressed the foreigner who lives among them and denied them justice.
22:30 “I looked for a man from among them who would repair the wall and stand in the gap before me on behalf of the land, so that I would not destroy it, but I found no one.
22:31 So I have poured my anger on them, and destroyed them with the fire of my fury. I hereby repay them for what they have done, declares the sovereign Lord.”
Daniel 9:6
9:6 We have not paid attention to your servants the prophets, who spoke by your authority
to our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors,
and to all the inhabitants
of the land as well.
Daniel 9:8
9:8 O
LORD, we have been humiliated
– our kings, our leaders, and our ancestors – because we have sinned against you.
Daniel 9:12
9:12 He has carried out his threats
against us and our rulers
who were over
us by bringing great calamity on us – what has happened to Jerusalem has never been equaled under all heaven!
Micah 7:1-5
Micah Laments Judah’s Sin
7:1 I am depressed!
Indeed, it is as if the summer fruit has been gathered,
and the grapes have been harvested.
There is no grape cluster to eat,
no fresh figs that I crave so much.
7:2 Faithful men have disappeared from the land;
there are no godly men left.
They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood;
they hunt their own brother with a net.
7:3 They are determined to be experts at doing evil;
government officials and judges take bribes,
prominent men make demands,
and they all do what is necessary to satisfy them.
7:4 The best of them is like a thorn;
the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes.
The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen –
your appointed time of punishment – is on the way,
and then you will experience confusion.
7:5 Do not rely on a friend;
do not trust a companion!
Don’t even share secrets with the one who lies in your arms!
Zephaniah 3:3-4
3:3 Her princes are as fierce as roaring lions;
her rulers are as hungry as wolves in the desert,
who completely devour their prey by morning.
3:4 Her prophets are proud;
they are deceitful men.
Her priests defile what is holy;
they break God’s laws.