“^(A)Hear now, heads of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel.
Is it not for you to ^(B)know justice?
² You who hate good and love evil,
Who ^(C)tear off their skin from them
And their flesh from their bones,
³ And who ^(D)eat the flesh of my people,
Strip off their skin from them,
Break their bones,
And ^(E)spread them out as for the pot
And as meat in a caldron.”
⁴ Then they will ^(F)cry out to Yahweh,
But He will not answer them.
Instead, He will ^(G)hide His face from them at that time
Because they have ^(H)practiced evil deeds.

When they have something to bite with their teeth,
They ^(J)call out, “Peace,”
But against him who puts nothing in their mouths,
They set themselves apart for war.
⁶ Therefore it will be ^(K)night for you—without vision,
And darkness for you—without divination.
The ^(L)sun will go down on the prophets,
And the day will grow black over them.
⁷ The seers will be ^(M)ashamed,
And the ^(N)diviners will be humiliated.
Indeed, they will all ^(O)cover their ^[a]mouths
Because there is ^(P)no answer from God.
⁸ On the other hand ^(Q)I am filled with power—
With the Spirit of Yahweh—
And with justice and might
To ^(R)declare to Jacob his transgression,
Even to Israel his sin.
⁹ Now hear this, ^(S)heads of the house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who ^(T)abhor justice
And twist everything that is straight,
¹⁰ Who ^(U)build Zion with bloodshed
And Jerusalem with violent injustice.
¹¹ Her heads pronounce ^(V)judgment for a bribe,
And her ^(W)priests instruct for a price,
And her prophets divine for money.
Yet they lean on Yahweh saying,
“^(X)Is not Yahweh in our midst?
Evil will not come upon us.”
¹² Therefore, on account of you
^(Y)Zion will be plowed as a field;
^(Z)Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
And the ^(AA)mountain of the house of God will become high places of a forest.