Two troublemakers sat across from Naboth and said in front of everybody that they had heard him speak against God and the king. So the people carried Naboth out of the city and killed him with stones.
Now let each of you fear the Lord. Watch what you do, because the Lord our God wants people to be fair. He wants all people to be treated the same, and he doesn’t want decisions influenced by money.”
Your rulers are rebels and friends of thieves. They all accept money for doing wrong, and they are paid to cheat people. They don’t seek justice for the orphans or listen to the widows’ needs.
They are not fair to the poor, and they rob my people of their rights. They allow people to steal from widows and to take from orphans what really belongs to them.
But now those leaders are drunk with wine; they stumble from drinking too much beer. The priests and prophets are drunk with beer and are filled with wine. They stumble from too much beer. The prophets are drunk when they see their visions; the judges stumble when they make their decisions.
The wicked person uses evil like a tool. He plans ways to take everything from the poor. He destroys the poor with lies, even when the poor person is in the right.
I know your many crimes, your terrible sins. You hurt people who do right, you take money to do wrong, and you keep the poor from getting justice in court.
Its judges take money to decide who wins in court. Its priests only teach for pay, and its prophets only look into the future when they get paid. But they lean on the Lord and say, “The Lord is here with us, so nothing bad will happen to us.”
With both hands they are doing evil. Rulers ask for money, and judges’ decisions are bought for a price. Rich people tell what they want, and they get it.
So you will be guilty for the death of all the good people who have been killed on earth—from the murder of that good man Abel to the murder of Zechariah son of Berakiah, whom you murdered between the Temple and the altar.
Do not judge unfairly or take sides. Do not let people pay you to make wrong decisions, because that kind of payment makes wise people seem blind, and it changes the words of good people.