yet they saye: they do well, when they do euil. As the prince wyll, so sayeth the iudge: that he maye do him a pleasure agayne. The greate man speaketh what his herte desyreth: & the hearers alowe hym.
O ye iudges, ye geue sentence for gyftes: O ye preastes, ye teach for lucre: O ye Prophetes, ye prophecy for monye. Yet wyll they be taken as those that holde vpon God, and saye: Is not the Lorde amonge vs? Tushe, there can no mysfortune happen vs.
as for the multitude of your wickednesses and your stout synnes, I know them ryghte well. Euemyes are ye of the ryghtuous, ye take rewardes, ye oppresse the poore in iudgement.
Wherfore I will geue their wyues vnto aleauntes, and their feldes to destroyers. For from the loweste vnto the hyeste, they folowe all fylthy lucre: & from the Prophete vnto the prieste, they deale al with lyes.
Therfore iudge nothinge before the tyme vntill the Lorde come, who wyll lyghten thinges, that are hyd in darckenes, and open the counsels of the hertes. And then shall euery man haue praise of God.
Wilt thou then put me awaye, and cast me of for euer? Or wilt thou withdrawe thy selfe cleane from me? Neuertheles, thou speakest suche wordes, but thou art euer doynge worse and worse.
For beholde, the Lorde wyl go out of his habitacyon, and vpset the wyckednesse of them that dwell vpon earthe. He wyl dyscouer the bloud that she hath deuoured, she shal neuer hyde them, that she hath murthered.
Thy prynces are traytours and companyons of theues. They loue gyftes altogether, & folowe rewardes. As for the fatherles, they helpe hym not to hys ryght, nether wyll they let the wydowes causes come before them.
These are the perlous weapons of the couetous, these be hys shamefull councels: that he maye begyle the poore with disceatfull workes, yea euen there as he shuld geue sentence with the poore.
Then sayde he vnto me: The wickednesse of the house of Israel and Iuda is very greate: so that the lande is full of bloude, and the citie full of vnfaythfulnesse: For they saye: Tushe, the Lord regardeth not the earth, he seyth vs not.
yea gyftes haue bene receyued in the, to shede bloude. Thou haste taken vsury and encreace, thou haste oppressed thy neyghbours by extorcion, and forgotten me, sayeth the Lorde God.
but my people doth the contrary, therfore must I take parte agaynst them: for they take awaye both cote and cloke from the symyle. Ie haue turned youre selues to fyght,
Neuertheles this shal come vpon them, because my people is become folysh, and hath vtterly no vnderstandynge. They are the children of folishnes, and without any dyscrecion. To do euill, they haue wyt ynoughe: but to do wel, they haue no wisdome.
for so muche as ye haue shot the weake shepe vpon the sydes & shoulders, and runne vpon them with youre hornes, so longe tyll ye haue vtterlye scatred them abroad