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

¶ And I said, Hear, I pray you, O princes of Jacob, and ye heads of the house of Israel. Did it not pertain to you to know that which is right?

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

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

3 w ho 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.

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

4 T hen 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.”

Then they shall cry unto the LORD, but he will not respond to them: he will even hide his face from them at that time because of their evil doings.

5 Y ahweh 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:

Thus hath the LORD said concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that does not give them something to eat, they even prepare war against him.

6 “ 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.

Therefore the vision shall be made night unto you, and darkness unto those that divine, and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.

7 T he seers shall be disappointed, and the diviners confounded. Yes, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer from God.”

Then the prophets shall be ashamed, and the diviners confounded; and they shall all cover their lips because they shall have no answer from God.

8 B ut 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.

¶ But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his rebellion, and to Israel his sin.

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

Now hear this, ye heads of the house of Jacob and captains of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment and pervert all equity;

10 T hey build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

that build up Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity;

11 H er 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.”

the heads thereof judge for bribes, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet they come near unto the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? No evil can come upon us.

12 T herefore 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.

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