Rulers and Prophets Condemned

1And I said:

“Hear now, O heads of Jacob,

and rulers of the house of Israel:

Is it not for you⁺ to know justice—

2those hating good and loving evil,

those tearing away their skin from upon them,

and their flesh from their bones,

3and who eat the flesh of My people,

and strip off their skin from them

and break their bones

and spread them as in the pot,

and like flesh in a cauldron?”

4Then they will cry to YHWH,

and He will not answer them;

and He will hide His face from them at that time,

because their deeds have been evil.

5Thus says YHWH

concerning the prophets

leading astray my people,

those biting with their teeth

while they call out, Peace,

and who do not give to their mouth,

and they have sanctified against him war:

6“Therefore a night is unto you⁺ without a vision,

and it will grow dark for you⁺ without divination,

and the sun will go down on the prophets,

and the daylight will turn black over them.

7And the seers will be ashamed,

and the diviners will be disgraced,

and they will cover over their mustache—all of them—

for there is no answer from God!”

8However I am filled with power

by the Spirit of YHWH,

and justice and strength

to declare to Jacob his transgression,

and to Israel his sin.

9Hear this now, O heads of the house of Jacob,

and rulers of the house of Israel,

those abhorring justice,

and all that is upright, they pervert,

10those building up Zion with bloodshed,

and Jerusalem with injustice.

11Her heads give judgment for a bribe,

and her priests give instruction for a price,

and her prophets practice divination for silver.

And on YHWH they lean, and say,

“Is not YHWH among us?

No harm can come upon us.”

12Therefore, because of you⁺,

Zion will be plowed as a field,

and Jerusalem will become heaps of ruins,

and the mountain of the house, like the heights of the forest.