1 A nd I said, Hear, I pray you, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice?—

And I say, `Hear, I pray you, heads of Jacob, And ye judges of the house of Israel, Is it not for you to know the judgment?

2 Y ou who hate the good and love the evil, who pluck and steal the skin from off and their flesh from off their bones;

Ye who are hating good, and loving evil, Taking violently their skin from off them, And their flesh from off their bones,

3 Y es, you who eat the flesh of my people and strip their skin from off them, who break their bones and chop them in pieces as for the pot, like meat in a big kettle.

And who have eaten the flesh of My people, And their skin from off them have stript, And their bones they have broken, And they have spread out as in a pot, And as flesh in the midst of a caldron.

4 T hen will they cry to the Lord, but He will not answer them; He will even hide His face from them at that time, because they have made their deeds evil.

Then do they cry unto Jehovah, And He doth not answer them, And hideth His face from them at that time, As they have made evil their doings.

5 T hus says the Lord: Concerning the false prophets who make My people err, when they have anything good to bite with their teeth they cry, Peace; and whoever gives them nothing to chew, against him they declare a sanctified war.

Thus said Jehovah concerning the prophets Who are causing My people to err, Who are biting with their teeth, And have cried `Peace,' And he who doth not give unto their mouth, They have sanctified against him war.

6 T herefore it shall be night to you, so that you shall have no vision; yes, it shall be dark to you without divination. And the sun shall go down over the false prophets, and the day shall be black over them.

Therefore a night ye have without vision, And darkness ye have without divination, And gone in hath the sun on the prophets, And black over them hath been the day.

7 A nd the seers shall be put to shame and the diviners shall blush and be confounded; yes, they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God.

And ashamed have been the seers, And confounded have been the diviners, And covered their lip have all of them, For their is no answer, O God.

8 B ut truly I am full of power, of the Spirit of the Lord, and of justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.

And yet I have been full of power by the Spirit of Jehovah, And of judgment, and of might, To declare to Jacob his transgression, And to Israel his sin.

9 H ear this, I pray you, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor and reject justice and pervert all equity,

Hear this, I pray you, heads of the house of Jacob, And ye judges of the house of Israel, Who are making judgment abominable, And all uprightness do pervert.

10 W ho build up Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity.

Building up Zion with blood, And Jerusalem with iniquity.

11 I ts heads judge for reward and a bribe and its priests teach for hire and its prophets divine for money; yet they lean on the Lord and say, Is not the Lord among us? No evil can come upon us.

Her heads for a bribe do judge, And her priests for hire do teach, And her prophets for silver divine, And on Jehovah they lean, saying, `Is not Jehovah in our midst? Evil doth not come in upon us.'

12 T herefore shall Zion on your account be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house like a densely wooded height.

Therefore, for your sake, Zion is ploughed a field, and Jerusalem is heaps, And the mount of the house for high places of a forest!