1/ Look here, you rich people: Weep and groan with anguish because of all the terrible troubles ahead of you.  2/ Your wealth is rotting away, and your fine clothes are moth-eaten rags.  3/ Your gold and silver have become worthless. The very wealth you were counting on will eat away your flesh like fire. This treasure you have accumulated will stand as evidence against you on the day of judgment.  4/ For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay.  The wages you held back cry out against you.  The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the LORD of Heaven’s Armies

5/ You have spent your years on earth in luxury, satisfying your every desire.  You have fattened yourselves for the day of slaughter.  6/ You have condemned and killed innocent people, who do not resist you.

Patience and Endurance

7/ Dear brothers and sisters, be patient as you wait for the Lord’s return.  Consider the farmers who patiently wait for the rains in the fall and in the spring.  They eagerly look for the valuable harvest to ripen.  8/You, too, must be patient.  Take courage, for the coming of the Lord is near. 9/ Don’t grumble about each other, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged.  For look—the Judge is standing at the door! 

1/ “Shout with the voice of a trumpet blast.  Shout aloud!  Don’t be timid.  Tell my people Israel of their sins!  2/ Yet they act so pious!  They come to the Temple every day and seem delighted to learn all about me.  They act like a righteous nation that would never abandon the laws of its God.  They ask me to take action on their behalf, pretending they want to be near me.  3/ ‘We have fasted before you!’ they say.  Why aren’t you impressed?  We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’  “I will tell you why!” I respond.  “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves.  Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers.  4/ What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling?  This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me.  5/ You humble yourselves by going through the motions of penance, bowing your heads like reeds bending in the wind.  You dress in burlap and cover yourselves with ashes.  Is this what you call fasting?  Do you really think this will please the LORD?  6/ “No, this is the kind of fasting I want:  Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you.  Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.  7/ Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless.  Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help.  8/ “Then your salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal.  Your godliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the LORD will protect you from behind.  9/ Then when you call, the LORD will answer.  ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply.  “Remove the heavy yoke of oppression.  Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!  10/ Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble.  Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.  11/ The Lord will guide you continually, giving you water when you are dry and restoring your strength.  You will be like a well-watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.  12/ Some of you will rebuild the deserted ruins of your cities.  Then you will be known as a rebuilder of walls and a restorer of homes.