1Listen, you leaders of Israel! You are supposed to know right from wrong,
2but you are the very ones who hate good and love evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh off their bones.
3You eat my people’s flesh, cut away their skin, and break their bones. You chop them up like meat for the cooking pot.
4Then you beg the LORD for help in times of trouble! Do you really expect him to listen? After all the evil you have done, he won’t even look at you!
5This is what the LORD says to you false prophets: "You are leading my people astray! You promise peace for those who give you food, but you declare war on anyone who refuses to pay you.
6Now the night will close around you, cutting off all your visions. Darkness will cover you, making it impossible for you to predict the future. The sun will set for you prophets, and your day will come to an end.
7Then you seers will cover your faces in shame, and you diviners will be disgraced. And you will admit that your messages were not from God."
8But as for me, I am filled with power and the Spirit of the LORD. I am filled with justice and might, fearlessly pointing out Israel’s sin and rebellion.
9Listen to me, you leaders of Israel! You hate justice and twist all that is right.
10You are building Jerusalem on a foundation of murder and corruption.
11You rulers govern for the bribes you can get; you priests teach God’s laws only for a price; you prophets won’t prophesy unless you are paid. Yet all of you claim you are depending on the LORD. "No harm can come to us," you say, "for the LORD is here among us."
12So because of you, Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field; Jerusalem will be reduced to rubble! A great forest will grow on the hilltop, where the Temple now stands.