8
Now go and write down these words.
Write them in a book.
They will stand until the end of time
as a witness
9
that these people are stubborn rebels
who refuse to pay attention to the Lord ’s instructions.
10
They tell the seers,
“Stop seeing visions!”
They tell the prophets,
“Don’t tell us what is right.
Tell us nice things.
Tell us lies.
11
Forget all this gloom.
Get off your narrow path.
Stop telling us about your
‘Holy One of Israel.’”
12
This is the reply of the Holy One of Israel:
“Because you despise what I tell you
and trust instead in oppression and lies,
13
calamity will come upon you suddenly -
like a bulging wall that bursts and falls.
In an instant it will collapse
and come crashing down.
14
You will be smashed like a piece of pottery -
shattered so completely that
there won’t be a piece big enough
to carry coals from a fireplace
or a little water from the well.”
15
This is what the Sovereign Lord ,
the Holy One of Israel, says:
“Only in returning to me
and resting in me will you be saved.
In quietness and confidence is your strength.
But you would have none of it.
16
You said, ‘No, we will get our help from Egypt.
They will give us swift horses for riding into battle.’
But the only swiftness you are going to see
is the swiftness of your enemies chasing you!
17
One of them will chase a thousand of you.
Five of them will make all of you flee.
You will be left like a lonely flagpole on a hill
or a tattered banner on a distant mountaintop.”