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 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 et you hate good and love sin. You tear off the skin from my people and the flesh from 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 ou eat my people’s flesh, pull their skin off, break their bones, and cut them up like meat for the pot.”

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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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.

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

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