“I will make boys
Their princes.
Babes shall rule
Over them.
The people will be oppressed.
Everyone will oppress another person.
Everyone will oppress his neighbor.
The youth will be insolent
To the elders.
The base fellows will be insolent
To the honorable ones.
Someone will even seize a relative,
A member of their clan.
Saying.
‘You have a cloak.
You shall be our leader.
This heap of ruins
Shall be under your rule.’
But the other will cry out.
Saying.
‘I will not be a healer.
In my house,
There is
Neither bread
Nor cloak.
You shall not make me
Leader of the people.’
Jerusalem has stumbled.
Judah has fallen.
Because their speech was
Against Yahweh.
Their deeds were
Against Yahweh.
They defied his glorious presence.”
Jerusalem will become a place of anarchy. Boys will be princes. Babies will be rulers. Everyone will oppress their neighbors with violence and civil unrest. The young people will not listen to their elders. Low life people will be insolent to the honorable ones. They will try to make leaders from their own clans. However, no one will want to be a leader because they do not have anything to eat or wear. Jerusalem has stumbled. Judah has fallen. This is obviously the time of the Exile. All this has happened because their speech and deeds were against Yahweh. They defied his glorious presence among them.
Eugene Finnegan Bible Project 