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I said,

“Please listen, you heads of Jacob,
    and rulers of the house of Israel:
    Isn’t it for you to know justice?
You who hate the good,
    and love the evil;
    who tear off their skin,
    and their flesh from off their bones;
    who also eat the flesh of my people,
    and peel their skin from off them,
    and break their bones,
    and chop them in pieces, as for the pot,
    and as meat within the cauldron.
Then 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.”

Yahweh 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:

“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.
The seers shall be disappointed,
    and the diviners confounded.
Yes, they shall all cover their lips;
    for there is no answer from God.”[a]
But 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.
Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob,
    and rulers of the house of Israel,
    who abhor justice,
    and pervert all equity.
10 They build up Zion with blood,
    and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11 Her 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.”
12 Therefore 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.

Footnotes

  1. 3:7 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).

Judgment against Israel’s Leaders

I said, “Listen, you leaders of Israel!
    You are supposed to know right from wrong,
but you are the very ones
    who hate good and love evil.
You skin my people alive
    and tear the flesh from their bones.
Yes, you eat my people’s flesh,
    strip off their skin,
    and break their bones.
You chop them up
    like meat for the cooking pot.
Then you beg the Lord for help in times of trouble!
    Do you really expect him to answer?
After all the evil you have done,
    he won’t even look at you!”

This is what the Lord says:
    “You false prophets are leading my people astray!
You promise peace for those who give you food,
    but you declare war on those who refuse to feed you.
Now the night will close around you,
    cutting off all your visions.
Darkness will cover you,
    putting an end to your predictions.
The sun will set for you prophets,
    and your day will come to an end.
Then you seers will be put to shame,
    and you fortune-tellers will be disgraced.
And you will cover your faces
    because there is no answer from God.”

But as for me, I am filled with power—
    with the Spirit of the Lord.
I am filled with justice and strength
    to boldly declare Israel’s sin and rebellion.
Listen to me, you leaders of Israel!
    You hate justice and twist all that is right.
10 You are building Jerusalem
    on a foundation of murder and corruption.
11 You rulers make decisions based on bribes;
    you priests teach God’s laws only for a price;
you prophets won’t prophesy unless you are paid.
    Yet all of you claim to depend on the Lord.
“No harm can come to us,” you say,
    “for the Lord is here among us.”
12 Because of you, Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field;
    Jerusalem will be reduced to ruins!
A thicket will grow on the heights
    where the Temple now stands.