| New Living Translation | Berean Study Bible |
| 1I said, “Listen, you leaders of Israel! You are supposed to know right from wrong, | 1Then I said: “Hear now, O leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice? |
| 2but you are the very ones who hate good and love evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh from their bones. | 2You hate good and love evil. You tear the skin from my people and strip the flesh from their bones. |
| 3Yes, you eat my people’s flesh, strip off their skin, and break their bones. You chop them up like meat for the cooking pot. | 3You eat the flesh of my people after stripping off their skin and breaking their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron.” |
| 4Then you beg the LORD for help in times of trouble! Do you really expect him to answer? After all the evil you have done, he won’t even look at you!” | 4Then they will cry out to the LORD, but He will not answer them. At that time He will hide His face from them because of the evil they have done. |
| 5This is what the LORD says: “You false prophets are leading my people astray! You promise peace for those who give you food, but you declare war on those who refuse to feed you. | 5This is what the LORD says: “As for the prophets who lead My people astray, who proclaim peace while they chew with their teeth, but declare war against one who puts nothing in their mouths: |
| 6Now the night will close around you, cutting off all your visions. Darkness will cover you, putting an end to your predictions. The sun will set for you prophets, and your day will come to an end. | 6Therefore night will come over you without visions, and darkness without divination. The sun will set on these prophets, and the daylight will turn black over them. |
| 7Then you seers will be put to shame, and you fortune-tellers will be disgraced. And you will cover your faces because there is no answer from God.” | 7Then the seers will be ashamed and the diviners will be disgraced. They will all cover their mouths because there is no answer from God.” |
| 8But as for me, I am filled with power— with the Spirit of the LORD. I am filled with justice and strength to boldly declare Israel’s sin and rebellion. | 8As for me, however, I am filled with power by the Spirit of the LORD, with justice and courage, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. |
| 9Listen to me, you leaders of Israel! You hate justice and twist all that is right. | 9Now hear this, O leaders of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and pervert all that is right, |
| 10You are building Jerusalem on a foundation of murder and corruption. | 10who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity. |
| 11You rulers make decisions based on bribes; you priests teach God’s laws only for a price; you prophets won’t prophesy unless you are paid. Yet all of you claim to depend on the LORD. “No harm can come to us,” you say, “for the LORD is here among us.” | 11Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster can come upon us.” |
| 12Because of you, Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field; Jerusalem will be reduced to ruins! A thicket will grow on the heights where the Temple now stands. | 12Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge. |
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