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Rulers Denounced

¹ And I said,

"^(C1)Hear now, heads of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel.
Is it not for you to ^(C2)know and administer justice?

² "You who hate good and love evil,
Who ^(C1)tear the skin off my people
And their flesh from their bones;

³ You who ^(C1)eat the flesh of my people,
Strip off their skin from them,
Break their bones
And ^(C2)chop them in pieces as for the pot,
Like meat in a kettle."

⁴ Then they will ^(C1)cry to the LORD,
But He will not answer them;
Instead, He will even ^(C2)hide His face from them at that time withholding His mercy
Because they have ^(C3)practiced and tolerated and ignored evil acts. ^(VR1)

⁵ Thus says the LORD concerning the false prophets who ^(C1)lead my people astray;

When they have something good to bite with their teeth,
They ^(C2)call out, "Peace,"
But against the one who gives them nothing to eat,
They declare a holy war.

⁶ Therefore it will be ^(C1)night (tragedy) for you—without vision,
And darkness (cataclysm) for you—without foresight.
The ^(C2)sun shall go down on the false prophets,
And the day shall become dark and black over them.

⁷ The seers shall be ^(C1)ashamed
And the ^(C2)diviners discredited and embarrassed;
Indeed, they shall all ^(C3)cover their mouths in shame
Because there is ^(C4)no answer from God.

⁸ But in fact, ^(C1)I am filled with power,
With the Spirit of the LORD,
And with justice and might,
To ^(C2)declare to Jacob his transgression
And to Israel his sin.

⁹ Now hear this, you ^(C1)heads of the house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who ^(C2)hate and reject justice
And twist everything that is straight,

¹⁰ Who ^(C1)build Zion with blood and extortion and murder
And Jerusalem with violent injustice.

¹¹ Her leaders pronounce ^(C1)judgment for a bribe,
Her ^(C2)priests teach for a fee,
And her prophets foretell for money;
Yet they lean on the LORD, saying,
"^(C3)Is not the LORD among us?
No tragedy or distress will come on us." ^(VR1)

¹² Therefore, on account of you
^(F1)(C1)Zion shall be plowed like a field,
^(C2)Jerusalem shall become ^(F2)a heap of ruins,
And the ^(C3)mountain of the house of the LORD shall become like a densely wooded hill. ^(VR1)