The Sins of the Leaders

²³The word of the Lord came to me: ²⁴O mortal, say to her: You are an uncleansed land, not to be washed with rain on the day of indignation. ²⁵Her gang of prophets are like roaring lions in her midst, rending prey. They devour human beings; they seize treasure and wealth; they have widowed many women in her midst. ²⁶Her priests have violated My Teaching: they have profaned what is sacred to Me, they have not distinguished between the sacred and the profane, they have not taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have closed their eyes to My sabbaths. I am profaned in their midst. ²⁷Her officials are like wolves rending prey in her midst; they shed blood and destroy lives to win ill-gotten gain. ²⁸Her prophets, too, daub the wall for them with plaster: They prophesy falsely and divine deceitfully for them; they say, “Thus said the Lord God,” when the Lord has not spoken. ²⁹And the people of the land have practiced fraud and committed robbery; they have wronged the poor and needy, have defrauded the stranger without redress. ³⁰And I sought a man among them to repair the wall or to stand in the breach before Me in behalf of this land, that I might not destroy it; but I found none. ³¹I have therefore poured out My indignation upon them; I will consume them with the fire of My fury. I will repay them for their conduct—declares the Lord God.