“Listen, you leaders^(A) of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel.
Should you not embrace justice,
²     you who hate good and love evil;
who tear the skin from my people
    and the flesh from their bones;^(B)
3 who eat my people’s flesh,^(C)
    strip off their skin
    and break their bones in pieces;^(D)
who chop^(E) them up like meat for the pan,
    like flesh for the pot?^(F)”

⁹ Hear this, you leaders of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel,
who despise justice
    and distort all that is right;^(A)
10 who build^(B) Zion with bloodshed,^(C)
    and Jerusalem with wickedness.^(D)
11 Her leaders judge for a bribe,^(E)
    her priests teach for a price,^(F)
    and her prophets tell fortunes for money.^(G)
Yet they look^(H) for the Lord’s support and say,
    “Is not the Lord among us?
    No disaster will come upon us.”^(I)
12 Therefore because of you,
    Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,^(J)
    the temple^(K) hill a mound overgrown with thickets.^(L)

⁶ With what shall I come before^(A) the Lord
    and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?^(B)
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,^(C)
    with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?^(D)
Shall I offer my firstborn^(E) for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?^(F)
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly^(G) and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly^[a](H) with your God.^(I)