¹I said ,

“Please listen , you heads of Jacob ,

and rulers of the house of Israel :

Isn’t it for you to know justice ?

²You who hate the good ,

and love the evil ;

who tear off their skin ,

and their flesh from off their bones ;

³who 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.

⁴Then they will cry to the LORD ,

but he will not answer them .

Yes, he will hide his face from them at that time ,

because they made their deeds evil .”

⁵The LORD 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 :

⁶“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 .

⁷The seers shall be disappointed,

and the diviners confounded .

Yes , they shall all cover their lips ,

for there is no answer from God.”

⁸But as for me , I am full of power by the LORD ’s Spirit ,

and of judgement, and of might ,

to declare to Jacob his disobedience,

and to Israel his sin .

⁹Please listen to this , you heads of the house of Jacob ,

and rulers of the house of Israel ,

who abhor justice ,

and pervert all equity ,

¹⁰who build up Zion with blood ,

and Jerusalem with iniquity .

¹¹Her leaders judge for bribes ,

and her priests teach for a price ,

and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money ;

yet they lean on the LORD , and say,

“Isn’t the LORD amongst us ?

No disaster will come on us .”

¹²Therefore Zion for your sake will be ploughed like a field ,

and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble,

and the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest .