2. “Virgin Israel has fallen flat on her face.She’ll never stand up again.She’s been left where she’s fallen.No one offers to help her up.”
13. Justice is a lost cause. Evil is epidemic.Decent people throw up their hands.Protest and rebuke are useless,a waste of breath.
14. Seek good and not evil—and live!You talk about God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,being your best friend.Well, live like it,and maybe it will happen.
15. Hate evil and love good,then work it out in the public square.Maybe God, the God-of-the-Angel-Armies,will notice your remnant and be gracious.
21-24. “I can’t stand your religious meetings.I’m fed up with your conferences and conventions.I want nothing to do with your religion projects,your pretentious slogans and goals.I’m sick of your fund-raising schemes,your public relations and image making.I’ve had all I can take of your noisy ego-music.When was the last time you sang to me?Do you know what I want?I want justice—oceans of it.I want fairness—rivers of it.That’s what I want. That’s all I want.
25-27. “Didn’t you, dear family of Israel, worship me faithfully for forty years in the wilderness, bringing the sacrifices and offerings I commanded? How is it you’ve stooped to dragging gimcrack statues of your so-called rulers around, hauling the cheap images of all your star-gods here and there? Since you like them so much, you can take them with you when I drive you into exile beyond Damascus.” God’s Message, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.