How terrible it will be for you who long for the day of the LORD! What good will that day do you? For you it will be a day of darkness and not of light.

The sinners among my people will be killed in war---all those who say, 'God will not let any harm come near us.' "

Why do people commit crimes so readily? Because crime is not punished quickly enough.

You thought you would always be a queen, and did not take these things to heart or think how it all would end.

'Let's get some wine,' these drunkards say, 'and drink all we can hold! Tomorrow will be even better than today!' "

"Mortal man," he said, "why do the people of Israel repeat this proverb: 'Time goes by, and predictions come to nothing'?

"Mortal man, the Israelites think that your visions and prophecies are about the distant future.

But if he is a bad servant, he will tell himself that his master will not come back for a long time,

When people say, "Everything is quiet and safe," then suddenly destruction will hit them! It will come as suddenly as the pains that come upon a woman in labor, and people will not escape.

and will ask, "He promised to come, didn't he? Where is he? Our ancestors have already died, but everything is still the same as it was since the creation of the world!"

And in one hour she has lost all this wealth!" All the ships' captains and passengers, the sailors and all others who earn their living on the sea, stood a long way off,

Do horses gallop on rocks? Does anyone plow the sea with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into poison, and right into wrong.

I know how terrible your sins are and how many crimes you have committed. You persecute good people, take bribes, and prevent the poor from getting justice in the courts.

You have nothing to do with corrupt judges, who make injustice legal,