Verse 12
The city’s wealthy people readily resort to violence; her inhabitants tell lies, their tongues speak deceptive words.
Referenced Verses
- Isa 1:23 : 23 Your officials are rebels, they associate with thieves. All of them love bribery, and look for payoffs. They do not take up the cause of the orphan, or defend the rights of the widow.
- Jer 9:8 : 8 Their tongues are like deadly arrows. They are always telling lies. Friendly words for their neighbors come from their mouths. But their minds are thinking up ways to trap them.
- Hos 7:13 : 13 Israel Has Turned Away from the Lord Woe to them! For they have fled from me! Destruction to them! For they have rebelled against me! I want to deliver them, but they have lied to me.
- Jer 9:2-6 : 2 (9:1) I wish I had a lodging place in the wilderness where I could spend some time like a weary traveler. Then I would desert my people and walk away from them because they are all unfaithful to God, a congregation of people that has been disloyal to him. 3 The Lord Laments That He Has No Choice But to Judge Them The LORD says,“These people are like soldiers who have readied their bows. Their tongues are always ready to shoot out lies. They have become powerful in the land, but they have not done so by honest means. Indeed, they do one evil thing after another and do not pay attention to me. 4 Everyone must be on his guard around his friends. He must not even trust any of his relatives. For every one of them will find some way to cheat him. And all of his friends will tell lies about him. 5 One friend deceives another and no one tells the truth. These people have trained themselves to tell lies. They do wrong and are unable to repent. 6 They do one act of violence after another, and one deceitful thing after another. They refuse to pay attention to me,” says the LORD.
- Mic 2:1-2 : 1 Land Robbers Will Lose Their Land Beware wicked schemers, those who devise calamity as they lie in bed. As soon as morning dawns they carry out their plans, because they have the power to do so. 2 They confiscate the fields they desire, and seize the houses they want. They defraud people of their homes, and deprive people of the land they have inherited.
- Isa 3:8 : 8 Jerusalem certainly stumbles, Judah falls, for their words and their actions offend the LORD; they rebel against his royal authority.
- 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 59:3-9 : 3 For your hands are stained with blood and your fingers with sin; your lips speak lies, your tongue utters malicious words. 4 No one is concerned about justice; no one sets forth his case truthfully. They depend on false words and tell lies; they conceive of oppression and give birth to sin. 5 They hatch the eggs of a poisonous snake and spin a spider’s web. Whoever eats their eggs will die, a poisonous snake is hatched. 6 Their webs cannot be used for clothing; they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are sinful; they commit violent crimes. 7 They are eager to do evil, quick to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are sinful; they crush and destroy. 8 They are unfamiliar with peace; their deeds are unjust. They use deceitful methods, and whoever deals with them is unfamiliar with peace. 9 Israel Confesses its Sin For this reason deliverance is far from us and salvation does not reach us. We wait for light, but see only darkness; we wait for a bright light, but live in deep darkness. 10 We grope along the wall like the blind, we grope like those who cannot see; we stumble at noontime as if it were evening. Though others are strong, we are like dead men. 11 We all growl like bears, we coo mournfully like doves; we wait for deliverance, but there is none, for salvation, but it is far from us. 12 For you are aware of our many rebellious deeds, and our sins testify against us; indeed, we are aware of our rebellious deeds; we know our sins all too well. 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.
- Jer 5:5-6 : 5 I will go to the leaders and speak with them. Surely they know what the LORD demands. Surely they know what their God requires of them.” Yet all of them, too, have rejected his authority and refuse to submit to him. 6 So like a lion from the thicket their enemies will kill them. Like a wolf from the rift valley they will destroy them. Like a leopard they will lie in wait outside their cities and totally destroy anyone who ventures out. For they have rebelled so much and done so many unfaithful things.
- Jer 5:26-29 : 26 “Indeed, there are wicked scoundrels among my people. They lie in wait like bird catchers hiding in ambush. They set deadly traps to catch people. 27 Like a cage filled with the birds that have been caught, their houses are filled with the gains of their fraud and deceit. That is how they have gotten so rich and powerful. 28 That is how they have grown fat and sleek. There is no limit to the evil things they do. They do not plead the cause of the fatherless in such a way as to win it. They do not defend the rights of the poor. 29 I will certainly punish them for doing such things!” says the LORD.“I will certainly bring retribution on such a nation as this!
- Jer 6:6-7 : 6 All of this is because the LORD of Heaven’s Armies has said:‘Cut down the trees around Jerusalem and build up a siege ramp against its walls. This is the city which is to be punished. Nothing but oppression happens in it. 7 As a well continually pours out fresh water so it continually pours out wicked deeds. Sounds of violence and destruction echo throughout it. All I see are sick and wounded people.’
- Ezek 22:6-9 : 6 “‘See how each of the princes of Israel living within you has used his authority to shed blood. 7 They have treated father and mother with contempt within you; they have oppressed the resident foreigner among you; they have wronged the orphan and the widow within you. 8 You have despised my holy things and desecrated my Sabbaths! 9 Slanderous men shed blood within you. Those who live within you eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains; they commit obscene acts among you. 10 They have sexual relations with their father’s wife within you; they violate women during their menstrual period within you. 11 One commits an abominable act with his neighbor’s wife; another obscenely defiles his daughter-in-law; another violates his sister– his father’s daughter– within you. 12 They take bribes within you to shed blood. You engage in usury and charge interest; you extort money from your neighbors. You have forgotten me, declares the Sovereign LORD. 13 “‘See, I strike my hands together at the dishonest profit you have made, and at the bloodshed they have done among you.
- Ezek 22:25-29 : 25 Her princes within her are like a roaring lion tearing its prey; they have devoured lives. They take away riches and valuable things; they have made many women widows within it. 26 Her priests abuse my law and have desecrated my holy things. They do not distinguish between the holy and the profane, or recognize any distinction between the unclean and the clean. They ignore my Sabbaths and I am profaned in their midst. 27 Her officials are like wolves in her midst rending their prey– shedding blood and destroying lives– so they can get dishonest profit. 28 Her prophets coat their messages with whitewash. They see false visions and announce lying omens for them, saying,‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says,’ when the LORD has not spoken. 29 The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have wronged the poor and needy; they have oppressed the resident foreigner and denied them justice.
- Hos 4:1-2 : 1 The Lord’s Covenant Lawsuit against the Nation Israel Listen to the LORD’s message, you Israelites! For the LORD has a covenant lawsuit against the people of Israel. For there is neither faithfulness nor loyalty in the land, nor do they acknowledge God. 2 There is only cursing, lying, murder, stealing, and adultery. They resort to violence and bloodshed.
- Hos 7:1 : 1 whenever I want to heal Israel, the sin of Ephraim is revealed, and the evil deeds of Samaria are exposed. For they do what is wrong; thieves break into houses, and gangs rob people out in the streets.
- Mic 3:1-3 : 1 God Will Judge Judah’s Sinful Leaders I said,“Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the nation of Israel! You ought to know what is just, 2 yet you hate what is good, and love what is evil. You flay my people’s skin and rip the flesh from their bones. 3 You devour my people’s flesh, strip off their skin, and crush their bones. You chop them up like flesh in a pot– like meat in a kettle.
- Mic 3:9-9 : 9 Listen to this, you leaders of the family of Jacob, you rulers of the nation of Israel! You hate justice and pervert all that is right. 10 You build Zion through bloody crimes, Jerusalem through unjust violence. 11 Her leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, her priests proclaim rulings for profit, and her prophets read omens for pay. Yet they claim to trust the LORD and say,“The LORD is among us. Disaster will not overtake us!”
- Mic 7:2-6 : 2 Faithful men have disappeared from the land; there are no godly men left. They all wait in ambush to shed blood; they hunt their own brother with a net. 3 They are experts at doing evil; government officials and judges take bribes, prominent men announce what they wish and then they plan it out. 4 The best of them is like a thorn; their godly are like a thorn bush. Woe to your watchmen; your appointed punishment is on the way. The time of their confusion is now. 5 Do not rely on a friend; do not trust a companion! Even with the one who lies in your arms, do not share secrets! 6 For a son thinks his father is a fool, a daughter challenges her mother, and a daughter-in-law her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are his own family.
- Zeph 3:3 : 3 Her princes are as fierce as roaring lions; her rulers are as hungry as wolves in the desert, who completely devour their prey by morning.
- Rom 3:13 : 13 “Their throats are open graves, they deceive with their tongues, the poison of asps is under their lips.”
- Amos 5:11-12 : 11 Therefore, because you make the poor pay taxes on their crops and exact a grain tax from them, you will not live in the houses you built with chiseled stone, nor will you drink the wine from the fine vineyards you planted. 12 Certainly I am aware of your many rebellious acts and your numerous sins. You torment the innocent, you take bribes, and you deny justice to the needy at the city gate.
- Amos 6:1-3 : 1 The Party is over for the Rich Woe to those who live in ease in Zion, to those who feel secure on Mount Samaria. They think of themselves as the elite class of the best nation. The family of Israel looks to them for leadership. 2 They say to the people:“Journey over to Calneh and look at it! Then go from there to Hamath-Rabbah! Then go down to Gath of the Philistines! Are they superior to our two kingdoms? Is their territory larger than yours?” 3 You refuse to believe a day of disaster will come, but you establish a reign of violence.