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

I said, “Please listen, you heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: Isn’t it for you to know justice?

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

You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, 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.”

who also 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 they will cry to Yahweh, but he will not answer them. Yes, he will hide his face from them at that time, because they made their deeds evil.”

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.

Yahweh says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, “Peace!” and whoever doesn’t provide for 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 night is over you, with no vision, and it is dark to you, that you may not divine; and the sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will 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.

The seers shall be disappointed, and the diviners confounded. Yes, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer from 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 as for me, I am full of power by Yahweh’s Spirit, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, 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.

Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity.

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

They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

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.”

Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, “Isn’t Yahweh among us? No disaster will come on 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 Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest.