Thy princes {are} rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.

[To the chief Musician, Altaschith, Michtam of David.] Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O congregation? do ye judge uprightly, O ye sons of men? {Altaschith...: or, Destroy not} {Michtam: or, A golden Psalm}

He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both {are} abomination to the LORD.

Cursed {be} he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.

And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; {Is it} not for you to know judgment?

Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and {seen} that which is done to you in Egypt:

Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment {is} toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

And if ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, {but} that ye break my covenant:

They are waxen fat, they shine: yea, they overpass the deeds of the wicked: they judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge.

I will early destroy all the wicked of the land; that I may cut off all wicked doers from the city of the LORD.

And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.

Hear ye this, O priests; and hearken, ye house of Israel; and give ye ear, O house of the king; for judgment {is} toward you, because ye have been a snare on Mizpah, and a net spread upon Tabor.

And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you: yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood. {make...: Heb. multiply prayer} {blood: Heb. bloods}

Cursed {be} he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow. And all the people shall say, Amen.

For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to {execute} wrath upon him that doeth evil.

Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence of your hands in the earth.

The robbery of the wicked shall destroy them; because they refuse to do judgment. {destroy...: Heb. saw them, or, dwell with them}

Moreover all the chief of the priests, and the people, transgressed very much after all the abominations of the heathen; and polluted the house of the LORD which he had hallowed in Jerusalem.

Woe unto them that decree unrighteous decrees, and that write grievousness {which} they have prescribed; {that write...: or, to the writers that write grievousness}

Wherefore have we fasted, {say they}, and thou seest not? {wherefore} have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. {labours: or, things wherewith ye grieve others: Heb. griefs}

How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah.

A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping {and} supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, {and} they have forgotten the LORD their God.

As a fountain casteth out her waters, so she casteth out her wickedness: violence and spoil is heard in her; before me continually {is} grief and wounds.

Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?

If thou seest the oppression of the poor, and violent perverting of judgment and justice in a province, marvel not at the matter: for {he that is} higher than the highest regardeth; and {there be} higher than they. {at the... Heb. at the will, or, purpose}

Because of all the evil of the children of Israel and of the children of Judah, which they have done to provoke me to anger, they, their kings, their princes, their priests, and their prophets, and the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy.

Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah {is} exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not. {full of blood: Heb. filled with, etc} {perverseness: or, wresting of judgment}

Behold, the princes of Israel, every one were in thee to their power to shed blood. {power: Heb. arm}

Her princes in the midst thereof {are} like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, {and} to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.

And they shall teach my people {the difference} between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean.

By swearing, and lying, and killing, and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth blood. {blood: Heb. bloods}

Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said unto them, What evil thing {is} this that ye do, and profane the sabbath day?

And as troops of robbers wait for a man, {so} the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness. {by...: Heb. with one shoulder, or, to Shechem} {lewdness: or, enormity}

Hear this, ye old men, and give ear, all ye inhabitants of the land. Hath this been in your days, or even in the days of your fathers?

And they covet fields, and take {them} by violence; and houses, and take {them} away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. {oppress: or, defraud}

O {thou that art} named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD straitened? {are} these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? {straitened: or, shortened?} {uprightly: Heb. upright?}

And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; {Is it} not for you to know judgment?

For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue {is} deceitful in their mouth.

Her princes within her {are} roaring lions; her judges {are} evening wolves; they gnaw not the bones till the morrow.

Whose possessors slay them, and hold themselves not guilty: and they that sell them say, Blessed {be} the LORD; for I am rich: and their own shepherds pity them not.

Stand in the gate of the LORD'S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all {ye of} Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.

And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.