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 like hungry dogs that are never satisfied. They are like shepherds who don’t know what they are doing. They all have gone their own way; all they want to do is satisfy themselves.
For handfuls of barley and pieces of bread, you have dishonored me among my people. By lying to my people, who listen to lies, you have killed people who should not die, and you have kept alive those who should not live.
The king of Babylon has come to where the road divides, and he is using magic. He throws lots with arrows and asks questions of his family idols. He looks at the liver of a sacrificed animal to learn where he should go.
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.”
Such people are not serving our Lord Christ but are only doing what pleases themselves. They use fancy talk and fine words to fool the minds of those who do not know about evil.
These people must be stopped, because they are upsetting whole families by teaching things they should not teach, which they do to get rich by cheating people.
These false teachers left the right road and lost their way, following the way Balaam went. Balaam was the son of Beor, who loved being paid for doing wrong.
It will be terrible for them. They have followed the way of Cain, and for money they have given themselves to doing the wrong that Balaam did. They have fought against God as Korah did, and like Korah, they surely will be destroyed.