Rulers and Prophets Condemned

1And I said: Listen, leaders of Jacob and chiefs of the house of Israel. Does it not belong to you to know judgment,

2you who hold hatred for good, and love evil, who violently steal their skins from over them and their flesh from over their bones?

3They have devoured the flesh of my people, and have stripped their skin from over them, and they have shattered and chopped their bones, as if for the kettle, and like flesh in the middle of the pot.

4Then they will cry out to the Lord, and he will not heed them. And he will hide his face from them in that time, just as they have acted wickedly with their inventions.

5Thus says the Lord about the prophets who seduce my people: They bite with their teeth and preach peace, and if anyone does not give something to their mouth, they sanctify a battle against him.

6Because of this, night will be yours for vision, and darkness yours for divination, and the sun will meet with death over the prophets, and the day will be darkened over them.

7And those who see visions will be confounded, and the diviners will be confounded. And they will all cover their faces, because there is no response from God.

8Nevertheless, truly I have been filled with the strength of the Spirit of the Lord, with judgment and virtue, in order to announce to Jacob his wickedness and to Israel his sin.

9Hear this, leaders of the house of Jacob and judges of the house of Israel, you who abominate judgment and who pervert all that is right.

10You build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

11Her leaders have judged for tributes, and her priests have taught for payment, and her prophets divined for money. And they leaned upon the Lord, saying: “Is not the Lord in our midst? No disaster will overcome us.”

12For this reason, because of you, Zion will be plowed under like a field, and Jerusalem will become like a pile of stones, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of the forests.