1 A nd 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 e who are hating good, and loving evil, Taking violently their skin from off them, And their flesh from off their bones,

3 A nd 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 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 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 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 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 A nd 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, 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 B uilding up Zion with blood, And Jerusalem with iniquity.

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