Jer 9:2-8, 23:10-14, Eze 22:2-13, 25-30, Mic 2:1-3, 3:2, 9, 6:10, 7:2 | ESV | STEP | Oh that I had in the desert a travelers ’ lodging place , that I might leave my people and go away from them! For they are all adulterers , a company of treacherous men .

2 ^{▼▼Ch 9:1 in Hebrew} Oh that I had in the desert
a travelers’ lodging place,
that I might leave my people
and go away from them!
For they are all ^badulterers,
a company of ^ctreacherous men.
3 ^dThey bend their tongue like a bow;
falsehood and not truth has grown strong ^{▼▼Septuagint; Hebrew and not for truth they have grown strong} in the land;
for they proceed from evil to evil,
^fand they do not know me, declares the Lord.
4 ^gLet everyone beware of his neighbor,
and put no trust in any brother,
for every ^hbrother is a deceiver,
and every neighbor ⁱgoes about as a slanderer.
5 Everyone deceives his neighbor,
and no one speaks the truth;
they have taught their tongue to speak lies;
they weary themselves committing iniquity.
6 Heaping oppression upon oppression, and deceit upon deceit,
^jthey refuse to know me, declares the Lord.
7 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts:
“Behold, ^kI will refine them and ^ltest them,
for what else can I do, ^mbecause of my people?
8 ⁿTheir tongue is a deadly arrow;
^oit speaks deceitfully;
with his mouth ^peach speaks peace to his neighbor,
but in his heart ^qhe plans an ambush for him.

Jeremiah 23:10-14

10 ^rFor the land is full of adulterers;
^sbecause of the curse ^tthe land mourns,
and ^uthe pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
^vTheir course is evil,
and their might is not right.
11 ^w“Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
even ^xin my house I have found their evil,

declares the Lord.
12 ^yTherefore their way shall be to them
like slippery paths ^zin the darkness,
into which they shall be driven and fall,
for I will bring disaster upon them
^aain the year of their punishment,

declares the Lord.
13 In the prophets of ^abSamaria
^acI saw an unsavory thing:
^adthey prophesied by Baal
^aeand led my people Israel astray.
14 But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a horrible thing:
^afthey commit adultery and walk in lies;
^agthey strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from his evil;
^ahall of them have become like Sodom to me,
^aiand its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”

Ezekiel 22:2-13

2 “And you, ^ajson of man, ^akwill you judge, will you judge ^althe bloody city? ^amThen declare to her all her abominations. 3 You shall say, Thus says the Lord God: A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that ^anher time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself! 4 You have become guilty ^aoby the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made, and you have brought ^apyour days near, the appointed time of ^{▼▼Some Hebrew manuscripts, Septuagint, Syriac, Vulgate, Targum; most Hebrew manuscripts until} your years has come. ^arTherefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries. 5 Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you; ^asyour name is defiled; ^atyou are full of tumult.

6 “Behold, ^authe princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. 7 Father and mother ^avare treated with contempt in you; the sojourner ^awsuffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow ^axare wronged in you. 8 ^ayYou have despised my holy things and ^azprofaned my Sabbaths. 9 ^baThere are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you ^bbwho eat on the mountains; ^bcthey commit lewdness in your midst. 10 In you ^bdmen uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. 11 ^beOne commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; ^bfanother lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; ^bganother in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter. 12 In you ^bhthey take bribes to shed blood; ^biyou take interest and profit ^{▼▼That is, profit that comes from charging interest to the poor (compare Leviticus 25:36)} and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but ^bkme you have forgotten, declares the Lord God.

13 “Behold, ^blI strike my hand at ^bmthe dishonest gain that you have made, and at ^bnthe blood that has been in your midst.

Ezekiel 22:25-30

25 ^boThe conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is ^bplike a roaring lion ^bqtearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. 26 ^brHer priests ^bshave done violence to my law and ^bthave profaned my holy things. ^buThey have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and ^bvthey have disregarded my Sabbaths, ^bwso that I am profaned among them. 27 ^bxHer princes in her midst are like wolves ^bytearing the prey, ^bzshedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. 28 And ^caher prophets have smeared whitewash for them, ^cbseeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord God,’ when the Lord has not spoken. 29 The people of the land ^cchave practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and ^cdhave extorted from the sojourner without justice. 30 ^ceAnd I sought for a man among them ^cfwho should build up the wall ^cgand stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none.

Micah 2:1-3

Woe to the Oppressors

1 ^chWoe to those who devise wickedness
and work evil ^cion their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
because it is in the power of their hand.
2 They covet fields and ^cjseize them,
and houses, and take them away;
they oppress a man and his house,
a man and his inheritance.
3 Therefore thus says the Lord:
behold, against ^ckthis family I am devising disaster, ^{▼▼The same Hebrew word can mean evil or disaster, depending on the context}
from which you cannot remove your necks,
and you ^cmshall not walk haughtily,
^cnfor it will be a time of disaster.

Micah 3:2

2 you ^cowho hate the good and love the evil,
^cpwho tear the skin from off my people ^{▼▼Hebrew from off them}
and their flesh from off their bones,

Micah 3:9

9 ^crHear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel,
^cswho detest justice
and make crooked all that is straight,

Micah 6:10

10 Can I forget any longer the treasures ^{▼▼Or Are there still treasures} of wickedness in the house of the wicked,
and the scant measure that is accursed?

Micah 7:2

2 ^cuThe godly has perished from the earth,
and ^cvthere is no one upright among mankind;
^cwthey all lie in wait for blood,
and ^cxeach hunts the other with a net.