Aagh, she’s become a whore,
the trustworthy township,
full of the exercise of authority.
Faithfulness was lodging in it,
but now murderers.
Your silver has become slag,
your drink is diluted with water.
Your officers are defiant,
the associates of thieves;
every one of them loves a bribe, chases gifts.
They don’t exercise authority for the orphan;
the widow’s cause doesn’t come to them.

Therefore the declaration of the Lord,
Yahweh of Armies, Yisra’el’s champion, is:
‘Hey, I shall get relief from my adversaries,
take redress from my enemies,
turn back my hand against you.

But I shall smelt your slag as with lye,
remove all your contamination.
I shall restore your leaders as of old,
your counsellors as at the beginning.
Afterwards you will be called faithful town,
trustworthy township.

Tsiyyon will find redemption through the exercise of authority,
and the people in it who turn back, through faithfulness.
But there will be a breaking of rebels and wrongdoers, all together,
and the people who abandon Yahweh will be finished.

Because they’ll be shamed on account of the oaks that you desired;
you will be confounded on account of the gardens that you chose.
Because you’ll be like an oak wilting of foliage,
like a garden for which there’s no water.
The strong person will become tinder, his work a spark.
The two of them will burn all together, and there will be no one quenching.

Goldingay, John; Goldingay, John; . The Bible for Everyone . SPCK. Kindle Edition.

Thank you, dear Jesus,
for all you have given me,
for all you have taken away from me,
for all you have left me.

Thomas More (c.1478-1535)