English Standard Version ESV
New Living Translation NLT
1 And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know justice? —
1
I said, “Listen, you leaders of Israel! You are supposed to know right from wrong,
2 you who hate the good and love the evil, who tear the skin from off my people and their flesh from off their bones,
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but you are the very ones who hate good and love evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh from their bones.
3 who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones in pieces and chop them up like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron.
3
Yes, you eat my people’s flesh, strip off their skin, and break their bones. You chop them up like meat for the cooking pot.
4 Then they will cry to the Lord, but he will not answer them; he will hide his face from them at that time, because they have made their deeds evil.
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Then you beg the LORD for help in times of trouble! Do you really expect him to answer? After all the evil you have done, he won’t even look at you!”
5 Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry “Peace”when they have something to eat, but declare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths.
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This is what the LORD says: “You false prophets are leading my people astray! You promise peace for those who give you food, but you declare war on those who refuse to feed you.
6 Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be black over them;
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Now the night will close around you, cutting off all your visions. Darkness will cover you, putting an end to your predictions. The sun will set for you prophets, and your day will come to an end.
7 the seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put to shame; they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God.
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Then you seers will be put to shame, and you fortune-tellers will be disgraced. And you will cover your faces because there is no answer from God.”
8 But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.
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But as for me, I am filled with power— with the Spirit of the LORD . I am filled with justice and strength to boldly declare Israel’s sin and rebellion.
9 Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight,
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Listen to me, you leaders of Israel! You hate justice and twist all that is right.
10 who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity.
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You are building Jerusalem on a foundation of murder and corruption.
11 Its heads give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money; yet they lean on the Lord and say, “Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us. ”
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You rulers make decisions based on bribes; you priests teach God’s laws only for a price; you prophets won’t prophesy unless you are paid. Yet all of you claim to depend on the LORD . “No harm can come to us,” you say, “for the LORD is here among us.”
12 Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.
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Because of you, Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field; Jerusalem will be reduced to ruins! A thicket will grow on the heights where the Temple now stands.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025
Holy Bible. New Living Translation copyright© 1996, 2004, 2007, 2013 by
Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.