Israel’s Wicked Leaders

The land is declared unclean and unwatered in the day of wrath. Prophets conspire like devouring lions, priests violate God's law and erase distinctions between holy and common, princes tear prey like wolves for unjust gain, and false visionaries whitewash everything with lies. The people at large also oppress, rob, and mistreat the poor and stranger. When the LORD looks for even one person to repair the wall and stand in the gap for the land, He finds no one, so He pours out indignation and consumes them according to their ways.

A²³nd the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²⁴“Son of man, say to her, ‘In the day of indignation, you are a land that has not been cleansed, upon which no rain has fallen.’ ²⁵The conspiracy of the princes in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing its prey. They devour the people, seize the treasures and precious things, and multiply the widows within her. ²⁶Her priests do violence to My law and profane My holy things. They make no distinction between the holy and the common, and they fail to distinguish between the clean and the unclean. They disregard My Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. ²⁷Her officials within her are like wolves tearing their prey, shedding blood, and destroying lives for dishonest gain. ²⁸Her prophets whitewash these deeds by false visions and lying divinations, saying, ‘This is what the Lord GOD says,’ when the LORD has not spoken. ²⁹The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy and have exploited the foreign resident without justice. ³⁰I searched for a man among them to repair the wall and stand in the gap before Me on behalf of the land, so that I should not destroy it. But I found no one. ³¹So I have poured out My indignation upon them and consumed them with the fire of My fury. I have brought their ways down upon their own heads, declares the Lord GOD.”