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Old Testament Reading - Defender of the Poor

⁶The Lord says, “The people of Israel have sinned again and again, and I will not forget it. I will not leave them unpunished anymore. For they have perverted justice by accepting bribes and sold into slavery the poor who can’t repay their debts; they trade them for a pair of shoes. ⁷They trample the poor in the dust and kick aside the meek.

“And a man and his father defile the same temple girl, corrupting my holy name. ⁸At their religious feasts they lounge in clothing stolen from their debtors, and in my own Temple they offer sacrifices of wine they purchased with stolen money.

⁹“Yet think of all I did for them! I cleared the land of the Amorites before them — the Amorites, as tall as cedar trees, and strong as oaks! But I lopped off their fruit and cut their roots. ¹⁰And I brought you out from Egypt and led you through the desert forty years, to possess the land of the Amorites.

¹³“Therefore, I will make you groan as a wagon groans that is loaded with sheaves. ¹⁴Your swiftest warriors will stumble in flight. The strong will all be weak, and the great ones can no longer save themselves. ¹⁵The archer’s aim will fail, the swiftest runners won’t be fast enough to flee, and even the best of horsemen can’t outrun the danger then. ¹⁶The most courageous of your mighty men will drop their weapons and run for their lives that day.” The Lord God has spoken.