Also, all the heads of the priests and the people trespassed more and more, according to all the abominations of the gentiles, and they defiled the House of יהוה which He had set apart in Yerushalayim.
Your rulers are stubborn, and companions of thieves. Everyone loves bribes, and runs after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow reach them.
Therefore a lion from the forest shall smite them, a wolf of the deserts ravage them. A leopard is watching over their cities, whoever comes out of them is torn in pieces. For their transgressions have been many, their backslidings have been numerous.
“And you have profaned Me among My people for handfuls of barley and for pieces of bread, to put to death beings that should not die, and to keep alive beings who should not live, by your lying to My people who listen to lies!”
“There is a conspiracy of her prophets in her midst, like a roaring lion tearing the prey. They have devoured life, they have taken wealth and precious matters, they have made many widows in her midst.
“And you shall say, ‘Thus said the Master יהוה, “The city sheds blood in her midst, that her time might come. And she has made idols within herself to become defiled.
“And they come to you as people do, and they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them. For with their mouth they show much love – their hearts pursue their greedy gain.
“And the prince does not take any of the people’s inheritance by evicting them from their possession. He is to give his sons their inheritance from his own possession, so that none of My people are separated from his possession.” ’ ”