[1] Listen, you rulers of Israel! You are supposed to be concerned about justice, [2] yet you hate what is good and you love what is evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh off their bones. [3] You eat my people up. You strip off their skin, break their bones, and chop them up like meat for the pot. [4] The time is coming when you will cry out to the LORD, but he will not answer you. He will not listen to your prayers, for you have done evil. [5] My people are deceived by prophets who promise peace to those who pay them, but threaten war for those who don't. To these prophets the LORD says, [6] "Prophets, your day is almost over; the sun is going down on you. Because you mislead my people, you will have no more prophetic visions, and you will not be able to predict anything." [7] Those who predict the future will be disgraced by their failure. They will all be humiliated because God does not answer them. [8] But as for me, the LORD fills me with his spirit and power, and gives me a sense of justice and the courage to tell the people of Israel what their sins are. [9] Listen to me, you rulers of Israel, you that hate justice and turn right into wrong. [10] You are building God's city, Jerusalem, on a foundation of murder and injustice. [11] The city's rulers govern for bribes, the priests interpret the Law for pay, the prophets give their revelations for money-and they all claim that the LORD is with them. "No harm will come to us," they say. "The LORD is with us." [12] And so, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a pile of ruins, and the Temple hill will become a forest.
