CHAPTER 3
Then I said:
“Hear
now,
O leaders
of Jacob,
you rulers
of the house
of Israel.
Should you not
know
justice?
You hate
good
and love
evil.
You tear
the skin
from My people
and strip the flesh
from
their bones.
You eat
the flesh
of my people
after stripping off
their skin
and breaking
their bones.
You chop them up
like meat
for the cooking pot,
like meat
in
a kettle.”
Then
they will cry out
to
the LORD,
but He will not
answer
them.
At that
time
He will hide
His face
from them
because of
the evil
they have done.
This is what
the LORD
says:
“As for
the prophets
who lead My people
astray,
who proclaim
peace
while they chew
with their teeth,
but declare
war
against one
who puts
nothing
in
their mouths:
Therefore
the night
will come over you
without visions,
and the darkness
without divination.
The sun
will set
on
these prophets,
and the daylight
will turn black
over them.
Then the seers
will be ashamed
and the diviners
disgraced.
They will all
cover
their mouths
because
there is no
answer
from God.
As for me,
however,
I am filled
with power
by
the Spirit
of the LORD,
with justice
and courage,
to declare
to Jacob
his transgression
and to Israel
his sin.
Now
hear
this,
O leaders
of the house
of Jacob
and rulers
of the house
of Israel,
who despise
justice
and pervert
all
that is right,
Her leaders
judge
for a bribe,
her priests
teach
for a price,
and her prophets
practice divination
for money.
Yet they lean
upon
the LORD,
saying,
“Is not
the LORD
among us?
No
disaster
can come
upon us."
Therefore,
because of you,
Zion
will be plowed
like a field,
Jerusalem
will become
a heap of rubble,
and the temple
mount
a wooded
ridge.