1 Then I said, “Please listen, leaders of the descendants of Jacob, people of Israel. You are meant to know the difference between right and wrong, 2 you who hate good and love evil! You tear off their skin, and rip the flesh from their bones. 3 You eat the flesh of my people, you strip off their skin, you break their bones. You chop them up like meat for the saucepan, like flesh for the cooking pot.”

4 Then they'll cry out to the Lord, but he won't answer them. He will turn away* Literally, “hide his face.” from them at that time because of the evil things they have done.

5 This is what the Lord says about the prophets who deceive my people. To those who feed† Literally, “biting with their teeth.” them they prophesy peace to them, while to those who do not they prophesy war against them. 6 Therefore it will be like night for you, with no visions; dark, with no predictions. The sun will set on these prophets; their day will end in darkness. 7 The seers will be disgraced, the fortune-tellers put to shame, and they will cover their faces because none of them receive any answer from God.

8 But as for me, I am filled with power, with the spirit of the Lord. I am filled with justice and strength to make clear to the descendants of Jacob their rebellion, and to the people of Israel their sin.

9 Listen to me, leaders of the descendants of Jacob and the people of Israel, you who hate justice and distort all that is right. 10 You are building Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with evil. 11 Your leaders judge for a bribe, and your priests teach for a price, and your prophets only prophesy for pay. Yet they all lean on the Lord saying, “Isn't the Lord here with us? Nothing bad can happen to us!” 12 Therefore because of you Zion will become a ploughed field and Jerusalem a heap of rubble, and the Temple mount will be overgrown.