Israel’s Leaders Denounced

• 3 And I said,
• “Listen, O heads of Jacob
  • and leaders of the house of Israel!
  • Is it not for you to know justice?
• 2 Those of you who are haters of good
  • and lovers of evil,
• who tear their skin from them
  • and their flesh from their bones,
• 3 and who eat the flesh of my people,
  • and strip their skin from them,
• and break their bones,
  • and chop them like meat in the pot,
  • and like flesh in the midst of a cooking pot.”
• 4 Then they will cry to Yahweh,
  • but he will not answer them.
• He will hide his face from them at that time,
  • when they have made their deeds evil.
• 5 Thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets
  • who are leading my people astray,
• who are biting with their teeth
  • and proclaim, “Peace,”
• but whoever puts nothing into their mouths
  • they declare war against.
• 6 Therefore it will be as night to you, without vision,
  • and darkness to you, without divination.
• And the sun will set on the prophets,
  • and the day will grow dark over them.
• 7 Then the seers will be disgraced,
  • and those practicing divination will be put to shame.
• All of them will cover their lips,
  • for there is no reply from God.
• 8 But I, I am filled with power,
  • with the Spirit of Yahweh,
• and with justice and might,
  • to declare to Jacob his rebellion,
  • and to Israel his sin.
• 9 Hear this, O rulers of the house of Jacob
  • and leaders of the house of Israel,
• those detesting justice
  • and perverting all that is right,
• 10 he who builds Zion with blood
  • and Jerusalem with wickedness.
• 11 Its rulers judge for a bribe;
  • its priests teach for a price;
  • its prophets practice divination for money.
• But they lean on Yahweh, saying,
  • “ Is not Yahweh in our midst?
  • Disaster will not come upon us.”
• 12 Therefore on account of you
  • Zion will be plowed as a field,
• and Jerusalem will be a heap of rubble,
  • and the temple mount[fn] as a high place in a forest.