"Everything is in confusion ---the land is full of murders and the cities are full of violence.

God answered, "The people of Israel and Judah are guilty of terrible sins. They have committed murder all over the land and have filled Jerusalem with crime. They say that I, the LORD, have abandoned their country and that I don't see them.

"Mortal man," he said, "are you ready to judge the city that is full of murderers? Make clear to her all the disgusting things she has done.

You are guilty of those murders and are defiled by the idols you made, and so your day is coming, your time is up! That is why I have let the nations make fun of you and all the countries sneer at you.

All Israel's leaders trust in their own strength and commit murder.

This is what the Sovereign LORD is saying: "The city of murderers is doomed! It is like a corroded pot that is never cleaned. Piece after piece of meat is taken out, and not one is left.

I have left the blood there, where it cannot be hidden, where it demands angry revenge."

Manasseh killed so many innocent people that the streets of Jerusalem were flowing with blood; he did this in addition to leading the people of Judah into idolatry, causing them to sin against the LORD.

"When you lift your hands in prayer, I will not look at you. No matter how much you pray, I will not listen, for your hands are covered with blood.

I punished you, but it did no good; you would not let me correct you. Like a raging lion, you have murdered your prophets.

Your clothes are stained with the blood of the poor and innocent, not with the blood of burglars. "But in spite of all this,

Stop taking advantage of aliens, orphans, and widows. Stop killing innocent people in this land. Stop worshiping other gods, for that will destroy you.

You steal, murder, commit adultery, tell lies under oath, offer sacrifices to Baal, and worship gods that you had not known before.

But it happened, because her prophets sinned and her priests were guilty of causing the death of innocent people.

They make promises and break them; they lie, murder, steal, and commit adultery. Crimes increase, and there is one murder after another.

And so the land will dry up, and everything that lives on it will die. All the animals and birds, and even the fish, will die."

yet you hate what is good and you love what is evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh off their bones.

You eat my people up. You strip off their skin, break their bones, and chop them up like meat for the pot.

You are building God's city, Jerusalem, on a foundation of murder and injustice.

There is not an honest person left in the land, no one loyal to God. Everyone is waiting for a chance to commit murder. Everyone hunts down their own people.

Its officials are like roaring lions; its judges are like hungry wolves, too greedy to leave a bone until morning.

As a result, the punishment for the murder of all innocent people will fall on you, from the murder of innocent Abel to the murder of Zechariah son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the Temple and the altar.