Therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to new owners. For from the least to the greatest everyone is greedy for gain. From the prophet even to the kohen everyone practices deceit.
You have profaned Me among My people for handfuls of barley and crumbs of bread, to kill those who should not die and to save those who should not live, by lying to My people, who listen to lies.’”
So you will remember, be ashamed and never open your mouth again because of your disgrace, when I have forgiven you of all that you have done.” It is a declaration of Adonai.
Her leaders give judgment for a bribe. Her priests give direction for a price. Her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean on Adonai by saying: “Is not Adonai in our midst? No calamity will come upon us!”
Thus said Adonai about the prophets who are misleading My people, those who bite with their teeth and cry “Shalom”—a word that He did not put in their mouth— yet they consecrate war against him:
“But woe to you, Torah scholars and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut people out of the kingdom of heaven. For you do not enter yourselves, nor do you let those enter who are trying to go in.
The hired worker is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. He sees the wolf coming and abandons the sheep and flees. Then the wolf snatches and scatters the sheep.
Now we know that whatever the Torah says, it says to those within the Torah, so that every mouth may be shut and the whole world may become accountable to God.
And at the same time, they also learn to be idle, going around from house to house—and not just idle, but also gossipers and busybodies, saying things they should not.
but if any widow has children or grandchildren, they must first learn to show devotion to their own home and give back to their parents, for this is pleasing before God.
For the overseer must be blameless as God’s administrator—not arrogant, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not violent, not greedy for dishonest gain.
He must hold firmly to the trustworthy message in keeping with the teaching, so he can both encourage by instruction that is sound and convict those who speak against it.