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Listen, you leaders of Israel—you are supposed to know right from wrong, yet you are the very ones who hate good and love evil; you skin my people and strip them to the bone.

You devour them, flog them, break their bones, and chop them up like meat for the cooking pot— and then you plead with the Lord for his help in times of trouble! Do you really expect him to listen? He will look the other way! You false prophets! You who lead his people astray! You who cry “Peace” to those who give you food and threaten those who will not pay!

This is God’s message to you: “The night will close about you and cut off all your visions; darkness will cover you with never a word from God. The sun will go down upon you, and your day will end. Then at last you will cover your faces in shame and admit that your messages were not from God.”

But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, fearlessly announcing God’s punishment on Israel for her sins.

Listen to me, you leaders of Israel who hate justice and love unfairness 10 and fill Jerusalem with murder and sin of every kind— 11 you leaders who take bribes; you priests and prophets who won’t preach and prophesy until you’re paid. (And yet you fawn upon the Lord and say, “All is well—the Lord is here among us. No harm can come to us.”) 12 It is because of you that Jerusalem will be plowed like a field and become a heap of rubble; the mountaintop where the Temple stands will be overgrown with brush.

Leaders and Prophets Rebuked

Then I said,

“Listen, you leaders(A) of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel.
Should you not embrace justice,
    you who hate good and love evil;
who tear the skin from my people
    and the flesh from their bones;(B)
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)

Then they will cry out to the Lord,
    but he will not answer them.(G)
At that time he will hide his face(H) from them
    because of the evil they have done.(I)

This is what the Lord says:

“As for the prophets
    who lead my people astray,(J)
they proclaim ‘peace’(K)
    if they have something to eat,
but prepare to wage war against anyone
    who refuses to feed them.
Therefore night will come over you, without visions,
    and darkness, without divination.(L)
The sun will set for the prophets,(M)
    and the day will go dark for them.(N)
The seers will be ashamed(O)
    and the diviners disgraced.(P)
They will all cover(Q) their faces(R)
    because there is no answer from God.(S)
But as for me, I am filled with power,
    with the Spirit of the Lord,
    and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression,
    to Israel his sin.(T)

Hear this, you leaders of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel,
who despise justice
    and distort all that is right;(U)
10 who build(V) Zion with bloodshed,(W)
    and Jerusalem with wickedness.(X)
11 Her leaders judge for a bribe,(Y)
    her priests teach for a price,(Z)
    and her prophets tell fortunes for money.(AA)
Yet they look(AB) for the Lord’s support and say,
    “Is not the Lord among us?
    No disaster will come upon us.”(AC)
12 Therefore because of you,
    Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,(AD)
    the temple(AE) hill a mound overgrown with thickets.(AF)