Wicked Rulers and Prophets
And I said:
“Hear now, O heads of Jacob,
And you arulers of the house of Israel:
bIs it not for you to know justice?
2 You who hate good and love evil;
Who strip the skin from My people,
And the flesh from their bones;
3 Who also aeat the flesh of My people,
Flay their skin from them,
Break their bones,
And chop them in pieces
Like meat for the pot,
bLike flesh in the caldron.”
4 Then athey will cry to the Lord,
But He will not hear them;
He will even hide His face from them at that time,
Because they have been evil in their deeds.
5 Thus says the Lord aconcerning the prophets
Who make my people stray;
Who chant “Peace”
While they bchew with their teeth,
But who prepare war against him
cWho puts nothing into their mouths:
6 “Thereforea you shall have night without vision,
And you shall have darkness without divination;
The sun shall go down on the prophets,
And the day shall be dark for bthem.
7 So the seers shall be ashamed,
And the diviners abashed;
Indeed they shall all cover their lips;
aFor there is no answer from God.”
8 But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord,
And of justice and might,
aTo declare to Jacob his transgression
And to Israel his sin.
9 Now hear this,
You heads of the house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who abhor justice
And pervert all equity,
10 aWho build up Zion with bbloodshed
And Jerusalem with iniquity:
11 aHer heads judge for a bribe,
bHer priests teach for pay,
And her prophets divine for money.
cYet they lean on the Lord, and say,
“Is not the Lord among us?
No harm can come upon us.”
12 Therefore because of you
Zion shall be aplowed like a field,
bJerusalem shall become heaps of ruins,
And cthe mountain of the temple
Like the bare hills of the forest.
The Holy Bible, New King James Version, Copyright © 1982 Thomas Nelson.
All rights reserved.