Evil Rulers and Lying Prophets
1 Listen to me,
you rulers of Israel!
You know right from wrong,
2 but you prefer to do evil
instead of what is right.
You skin my people alive.
You strip off their flesh,
3 break their bones,
cook it all in a pot,
and gulp it down.
4 Someday you will beg the Lord
to help you,
but he will turn away
because of your sins.
5 You lying prophets promise
security for anyone
who gives you food,
but disaster for anyone
who refuses to feed you.
Here is what the Lord says
to you prophets:
6 “You will live in the dark,
far from the sight of the sun,
with no message from me.
7 You prophets and fortunetellers
will all be disgraced,
with no message from me.”
8 But the Lord has filled me
with power and his Spirit.
I have been given the courage
to speak about justice
and to tell you people of Israel
that you have sinned.
9 So listen to my message,
you rulers of Israel!
You hate justice
and twist the truth.
10 You make cruelty and murder
a way of life in Jerusalem.
11 You leaders accept bribes
for dishonest decisions.
You priests and prophets
teach and preach,
but only for money.
Then you say,
“The Lord is on our side.
No harm will come to us.”
12 And so, because of you,
Jerusalem will be plowed under
and left in ruins.
Thorns will cover the mountain
where the temple now stands.
1 And I sayd, Heare, I pray you, O heads of Iaakob, and yee princes of the house of Israel: should not ye knowe iudgement? 2 But they hate the good, and loue the euill: they plucke off their skinnes from them, and their flesh from their bones. 3 And they eate also the flesh of my people, and flay off their skinne from them, and they breake their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron. 4 Then shall they crye vnto the Lord, but he will not heare them: he wil euen hide his face from them at that time, because they haue done wickedly in their workes. 5 Thus saith the Lord, Concerning the prophets that deceiue my people, and bite them with their teeth, and cry peace, but if a man put not into their mouthes, they prepare warre against him, 6 Therefore night shalbe vnto you for a vision, and darkenesse shalbe vnto you for a diuination, and the sunne shall goe downe ouer the prophets, and the day shalbe darke ouer them. 7 Then shall the Seers bee ashamed, and the southsayers confounded: yea, they shall all couer their lippes, for they haue none answere of God. 8 Yet notwithstanding I am full of power by the Spirite of the Lord, and of iudgement, and of strength to declare vnto Iaakob his transgression, and to Israel his sinne. 9 Heare this, I pray you, ye heades of the house of Iaakob, and princes of the house of Israel: they abhorre iudgement, and peruert all equitie. 10 They build vp Zion with blood, and Ierusalem with iniquitie. 11 The heads thereof iudge for rewardes, and the Priestes thereof teache for hyre, and the prophets thereof prophecie for money: yet wil they leane vpon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among vs? no euill can come vpon vs. 12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake bee plowed as a field, and Ierusalem shalbe an heape, and the mountaine of the house, as the hye places of the forest.