The Bible in Basic English BBE
Good News Translation GNT
1 And I said, Give ear, now, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the people of Israel: is it not for you to have knowledge of what is right?
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Listen, you rulers of Israel! You are supposed to be concerned about justice,
2 You who are haters of good and lovers of evil, pulling off their skin from them and their flesh from their bones;
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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 Like meat they take the flesh of my people for their food, skinning them and crushing their bones, yes, cutting them up as if for the pot, like flesh inside the cooking-pot.
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You eat my people up. You strip off their skin, break their bones, and chop them up like meat for the pot.
4 Then they will be crying to the Lord for help, but he will not give them an answer: yes, he will keep his face veiled from them at that time, because their acts have been evil.
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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 This is what the Lord has said about the prophets by whom my people have been turned from the right way; who, biting with their teeth, say, Peace; and if anyone puts nothing in their mouths they make ready for war against him.
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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 For this cause it will be night for you, without a vision; and it will be dark for you, without knowledge of the future; the sun will go down over the prophets, and the day will be black over them.
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"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 And the seers will be shamed, and the readers of the future will be at a loss, all of them covering their lips; for there is no answer from God.
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Those who predict the future will be disgraced by their failure. They will all be humiliated because God does not answer them.
8 But I truly am full of the spirit of the Lord, with power of judging and with strength to make clear to Jacob his wrongdoing and to Israel his sin.
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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 Then give ear to this, you heads of the children of Jacob, you rulers of the children of Israel, hating what is right, twisting what is straight.
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Listen to me, you rulers of Israel, you that hate justice and turn right into wrong.
10 They are building up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with evil-doing.
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You are building God's city, Jerusalem, on a foundation of murder and injustice.
11 Its heads take rewards for judging, and the priests take payment for teaching, and the prophets get silver for reading the future: but still, supporting themselves on the Lord, they say, Is not the Lord among us? no evil will overtake us.
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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 For this reason, Zion will be ploughed like a field because of you, and Jerusalem will become a mass of broken walls, and the mountain of the house like a high place in the woods.
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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.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.