1 A nd I said, “Hear now, leaders of Jacob and rulers of the people of Israel! Should you not know what is fair?

And I said, Hear, I pray you, ye heads of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel: Is it not for you to know judgment?

2 Y et you hate good and love sin. You tear off the skin from my people and the flesh from their bones.

Ye who hate the good, and love evil; who pluck off their skin from them, and their flesh from off their bones;

3 Y ou eat my people’s flesh, pull their skin off, break their bones, and cut them up like meat for the pot.”

and who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces as for the pot, and as flesh within the cauldron.

4 T hen they will cry to the Lord, but He will not answer them. He will hide His face from them at that time, because they have done sinful things.

Then shall they cry unto Jehovah, but he will not answer them; and he will hide his face from them at that time, according as they have wrought evil in their doings.

5 T his is what the Lord says about the men who speak in God’s name and lead my people the wrong way. When they have something to eat, they speak of peace. But they make holy war against him who does not feed them.

Thus saith Jehovah concerning the prophets that cause my people to err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace! but whoso putteth not into their mouths they prepare war against him:

6 S o night will come to you without a special dream. Darkness will come to you without any word about the future. The sun will go down on those who speak about special dreams, and the day will become dark over them.

therefore ye shall have night without a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, without divination; and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be black over them.

7 T hose who tell what is going to happen in the future will be ashamed. Those who learn about the future using their secret ways will be ashamed. They will all cover their mouths because there is no answer from God.

And the seers shall be ashamed, and the diviners confounded; and they shall all cover their lips, for there will be no answer of God.

8 B ut as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, with what is fair, and with strength. I am able to make known to Jacob his wrong-doing, and to Israel his sin.

But truly I am filled with power by the Spirit of Jehovah, and with judgment and with might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.

9 N ow listen to this, you leaders of Jacob and rulers of the people of Israel. You hate what is fair, and turn everything around that is right.

Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity,

10 Y ou built Zion with blood and Jerusalem with much wrong-doing.

that build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with unrighteousness.

11 H er leaders take pay in secret for doing wrong. Her religious leaders teach for a price. Her men who tell what is going to happen in the future do it for money. Yet they rest upon the Lord and say, “Is not the Lord among us? No trouble will come to us.”

The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money; yet do they lean upon Jehovah, and say, Is not Jehovah in the midst of us? no evil shall come upon us.

12 S o because of you Zion will be plowed as a field. Jerusalem will be laid waste. And the mountain of the Lord’s house will be covered with trees.

Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.