Daily Bread

“Listen, you leaders^(A) of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel.
Should you not embrace justice,
²     you who hate good and love evil;
who tear the skin from my people
    and the flesh from their bones;^(B)
3 who eat my people’s flesh,^(C)
    strip off their skin
    and break their bones in pieces;^(D)
who chop^(E) them up like meat for the pan,
    like flesh for the pot?^(F)”

⁴ Then they will cry out to the Lord,
    but he will not answer them.^(G)
At that time he will hide his face^(H) from them
    because of the evil they have done.^(I)

“As for the prophets
    who lead my people astray,^(J)
they proclaim ‘peace’^(K)
    if they have something to eat,
but prepare to wage war against anyone
    who refuses to feed them.
⁶ Therefore night will come over you, without visions,
    and darkness, without divination.^(L)
The sun will set for the prophets,^(M)
    and the day will go dark for them.^(N)
7 The seers will be ashamed^(O)
    and the diviners disgraced.^(P)
They will all cover^(Q) their faces^(R)
    because there is no answer from God.^(S)”
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,
    to Israel his sin.^(T)

⁹ Hear this, you leaders of Jacob,
    you rulers of Israel,
who despise justice
    and distort all that is right;^(U)
10 who build^(V) Zion with bloodshed,^(W)
    and Jerusalem with wickedness.^(X)
11 Her leaders judge for a bribe,^(Y)
    her priests teach for a price,^(Z)
    and her prophets tell fortunes for money.^(AA)
Yet they look^(AB) for the Lord’s support and say,
    “Is not the Lord among us?
    No disaster will come upon us.”^(AC)
12 Therefore because of you,
    Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,^(AD)
    the temple^(AE) hill a mound overgrown with thickets.^(AF)