²³ Your princes are rebels
    and companions of thieves.
Everyone loves a bribe
    and runs after gifts.
They do not defend the orphan,
    and the widow’s cause does not come before them.^(A)

3 And I said:
Listen, you heads of Jacob
    and rulers of the house of Israel!
Should you not know justice?—^(A)
2     you who hate the good and love the evil,
who tear the skin off my people^[a]
    and the flesh off their bones,^(B)
3 who eat the flesh of my people,
    flay their skin off them,
break their bones in pieces,
    and chop them up like meat^[b] in a kettle,
    like flesh in a caldron.^(C)

2 Woe to those who devise wickedness
    and evil deeds^[a] on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
    because it is in their power.^(A)