1  And I said:

^lHear, you heads of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel!

^mIs it not for you to know justice?—

2  you ⁿwho hate the good and love the evil,

^owho tear the skin from off my people¹

and their flesh from off their bones,

3  ^pwho eat the flesh of my people,

and flay their skin from off them,

and break their bones in pieces

and chop them up like meat in a pot,

like flesh in a cauldron.

4  ^qThen they will cry to the Lord,

but he will not answer them;

^rhe will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have made their deeds evil.

5  Thus says the Lord concerning ^sthe prophets

who lead my people astray,

^twho cry “Peace”

when they have something to eat,

but declare war against him

who puts nothing into their mouths.

6  Therefore ^uit shall be night to you, without vision,

and darkness to you, without divination.

^vThe sun shall go down on the prophets,

and the day shall be black over them;

7  ^wthe seers shall be disgraced,

and the diviners put to shame;

^xthey shall all cover their lips,

for ^ythere is no answer from God.

8  But as for me, ^zI am filled with power,

with the Spirit of the Lord,

and with justice and might,

to declare to Jacob ^ahis transgression

and to Israel his sin.

9  ^bHear this, you heads of the house of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel,

^cwho detest justice

and make crooked all that is straight,

10  ^dwho build Zion with blood

and Jerusalem with iniquity.

11  ^eIts heads give judgment for a bribe;

^fits priests teach for a price;

^gits prophets practice divination for money;

^hyet they lean on the Lord and ⁱsay,

“Is not the Lord in the midst of us?

^jNo disaster shall come upon us.”

3  ^aTheir hands are on what is evil, to do it well;

^bthe prince and ^cthe judge ask for a bribe,

and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;

thus they weave it together.