1 Then I said, "Now listen,  * leaders of Jacob,

you rulers of the house of Israel.

Aren’t you supposed to know what is just?  *

2 You hate good and love evil.

You tear off people’s skin  *

and strip their flesh from their bones.

3 You eat the flesh  * of my people

after you strip their skin from them

and break their bones.

You chop them up  *

like flesh for the cooking pot,

like meat in a cauldron."

4 Then they will cry out  * to the  Lord,

but he will not answer them.

He will hide his face from them at that time  *

because of the crimes they have committed.

5 This is what the  Lord  says

concerning the prophets

who lead my people astray,  *

who proclaim  * peace

when they have food to sink their teeth into

but declare war against the one

who puts nothing in their mouths.

6 Therefore, it will be night  * for you —

without visions;

it will grow dark for you —

without divination.  *

The sun will set  * on these prophets,

and the daylight will turn black over them.

7 Then the seers will be ashamed  *

and the diviners disappointed.  *

They will all cover their mouths  *,*

because there will be no answer from God.  *

8 As for me, however, I am filled with power  *

by the Spirit of the  Lord,

with justice and courage,

to proclaim to Jacob his rebellion

and to Israel his sin.  *

9 Listen to this, leaders of the house of Jacob,  *

you rulers of the house of Israel,

who abhor justice  *

and pervert everything that is right,

10 who build Zion with bloodshed  *

and Jerusalem with injustice.

11 Her leaders issue rulings for a bribe,  *

her priests teach for payment,  *

and her prophets practice divination for silver.

Yet they lean on the  Lord, saying,

"Isn’t the Lord* among us?

No disaster will overtake us."

12 Therefore, because of you,

Zion will be plowed like a field,

Jerusalem will become ruins,  *

and the temple’s mountain  *

will be a high thicket.  *