3:1 And I said: Hear, you leaders of Jacob, rulers of the house of Israel! Is it not your duty to know what is right,
3:2 you who hate what is good, and love evil? You who tear their skin from them, and their flesh from their bones!
3:3 They eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from them, and break their bones. They chop them in pieces like flesh in a kettle, and like meat in a caldron.
3:4 When they cry to the LORD, he shall not answer them; Rather shall he hide his face from them at that time, because of the evil they have done.
3:5 Thus says the LORD regarding the prophets who lead my people astray; Who, when their teeth have something to bite, announce peace, But when one fails to put something in their mouth, proclaim war against him.
3:6 Therefore you shall have night, not vision, darkness, not divination; The sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be dark for them.
3:7 Then shall the seers be put to shame, and the diviners confounded; They shall cover their lips, all of them, because there is no answer from God.
3:8 But as for me, I am filled with power, with the spirit of the LORD, with authority and with might; To declare to Jacob his crimes and to Israel his sins.
3:9 Hear this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel! You who abhor what is just, and pervert all that is right;
3:10 Who build up Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with wickedness!
3:11 Her leaders render judgment for a bribe, her priests give decisions for a salary, her prophets divine for money, While they rely on the LORD, saying, "Is not the LORD in the midst of us? No evil can come upon us!"
3:12 Therefore, because of you, Zion shall be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem reduced to rubble, And the mount of the temple to a forest ridge. [CHAP.4]