4  ^vAnd I will make boys their princes,

and infants¹ shall rule over them.

5  ^wAnd the people will oppress one another,

every one his fellow

and every one his neighbor;

the youth will be insolent to the elder,

and the despised to the honorable.

6  For ^xa man will take hold of his brother

in the house of his father, saying:

“You have a cloak;

you shall be our leader,

and this heap of ruins

shall be under your rule”;

7  in that day he will speak out, saying:

“I will not be a ^yhealer;²

in my house there is neither bread nor cloak;

you shall not make me

leader of the people.”

8  For Jerusalem has stumbled,

and Judah has fallen,

because their ^zspeech and their deeds are against the Lord,

^adefying his glorious presence.³

9  For the look on their faces bears witness against them;

they proclaim their sin ^blike Sodom;

they do not hide it.

Woe to them!

^cFor they have brought evil on themselves.

11  ^fWoe to the wicked! It shall be ill with him,

for what his hands have dealt out shall be done to him.

12  My people—^ginfants are their oppressors,

and women rule over them.

O my people, ^hyour guides mislead you

and they have swallowed up¹ the course of your paths.