Verse 4

They utter empty words, taking false oaths and making empty agreements. Therefore legal disputes sprout up like poisonous weeds in the furrows of a plowed field.

Referenced Verses

  • Amos 5:7 : 7 The Israelites turn justice into bitterness; they throw what is fair and right to the ground.
  • Amos 6:12 : 12 Can horses run on rocky cliffs? Can one plow the sea with oxen? Yet you have turned justice into a poisonous plant, and the fruit of righteous actions into a bitter plant.
  • Hos 4:2 : 2 There is only cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery. They resort to violence and bloodshed.
  • 2 Kgs 17:3-4 : 3 King Shalmaneser of Assyria marched up to attack him; so Hoshea became his subject and paid him tribute. 4 The king of Assyria discovered that Hoshea was planning a revolt. Hoshea had sent messengers to King So of Egypt and had not sent his annual tribute to the king of Assyria. So the king of Assyria arrested him and imprisoned him.
  • Ezek 17:13-19 : 13 He took one from the royal family, made a treaty with him, and put him under oath. He then took the leaders of the land 14 so it would be a lowly kingdom which could not rise on its own but must keep its treaty with him in order to stand. 15 But this one from Israel’s royal family rebelled against the king of Babylon by sending his emissaries to Egypt to obtain horses and a large army. Will he prosper? Will the one doing these things escape? Can he break the covenant and escape? 16 “‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, surely in the city of the king who crowned him, whose oath he despised and whose covenant he broke– in the middle of Babylon he will die! 17 Pharaoh with his great army and mighty horde will not help him in battle, when siege ramps are erected and siege-walls are built to kill many people. 18 He despised the oath by breaking the covenant. Take note– he gave his promise and did all these things– he will not escape! 19 “‘Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: As surely as I live, I will certainly repay him for despising my oath and breaking my covenant!
  • Deut 29:18 : 18 Beware that the heart of no man, woman, clan, or tribe among you turns away from the LORD our God today to pursue and serve the gods of those nations; beware that there is among you no root producing poisonous and bitter fruit.
  • Isa 5:7 : 7 Indeed Israel is the vineyard of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, the people of Judah are the cultivated place in which he took delight. He waited for justice, but look what he got– disobedience! He waited for fairness, but look what he got– cries for help!
  • Isa 59:13-15 : 13 We have rebelled and tried to deceive the LORD; we turned back from following our God. We stir up oppression and rebellion; we tell lies we concocted in our minds. 14 Justice is driven back; godliness stands far off. Indeed, honesty stumbles in the city square and morality is not even able to enter. 15 Honesty has disappeared; the one who tries to avoid evil is robbed. The LORD watches and is displeased, for there is no justice.
  • Acts 8:23 : 23 For I see that you are bitterly envious and in bondage to sin.”
  • Rom 1:31 : 31 senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless.
  • 2 Tim 3:3 : 3 unloving, irreconcilable, slanderers, without self-control, savage, opposed to what is good,
  • Heb 12:15 : 15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no one be like a bitter root springing up and causing trouble, and through it many become defiled.
  • Rev 8:10-11 : 10 Then the third angel blew his trumpet, and a huge star burning like a torch fell from the sky; it landed on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. 11 (Now the name of the star is Wormwood.) So a third of the waters became wormwood, and many people died from these waters because they were poisoned.
  • Hos 6:7 : 7 Indictments Against the Cities of Israel and Judah At Adam they broke the covenant; Oh how they were unfaithful to me!