Eze 22:6-14, Amo 5:12, 6:2-6, 12, 8:4-7, Mic 2:1-3, 9, 3:1-4, 9-12 | ESV | STEP | Behold , the princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power , have been bent on shedding blood .

6 “Behold, ^athe princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. 7 Father and mother ^bare treated with contempt in you; the sojourner ^csuffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow ^dare wronged in you. 8 ^eYou have despised my holy things and ^fprofaned my Sabbaths. 9 ^gThere are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you ^hwho eat on the mountains; ⁱthey commit lewdness in your midst. 10 In you ^jmen uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. 11 ^kOne commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; ^lanother lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; ^manother in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter. 12 In you ⁿthey take bribes to shed blood; ^oyou take interest and profit ^{▼▼That is, profit that comes from charging interest to the poor (compare Leviticus 25:36)} and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but ^qme you have forgotten, declares the Lord God.

13 “Behold, ^rI strike my hand at ^sthe dishonest gain that you have made, and at ^tthe blood that has been in your midst. 14 ^uCan your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? ^vI the Lord have spoken, and I will do it.

Amos 5:12

12 For I know how many are your transgressions
and how great are your sins—
you who afflict the righteous, who ^wtake a bribe,
and ^xturn aside the needy ^yin the gate.

Amos 6:2-6

2 Pass over to ^zCalneh, and see,
and from there go to ^aaHamath the great;
then go down to ^abGath of the Philistines.
^acAre you better than these kingdoms?
Or is their territory greater than your territory,
3 ^adO you who put far away the day of disaster
^aeand bring near the seat of violence?
4 “Woe to those ^afwho lie on ^agbeds of ivory
^ahand stretch themselves out on their couches,
and eat lambs from the flock
^aiand calves from the midst of the stall,
5 ^ajwho sing idle songs to the sound of the harp
and like David ^akinvent for themselves instruments of music,
6 ^alwho drink wine in bowls
and ^amanoint themselves with the finest oils,
but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!

Amos 6:12

12 Do horses run on rocks?
Does one plow there ^{▼▼Or the sea} with oxen?
^aoBut you have turned justice into ^appoison
^aqand the fruit of righteousness into wormwood ^{▼▼Or into bitter fruit}—

Amos 8:4-7

4 Hear this, ^asyou who trample on the needy
and bring the poor of the land to an end,
5 saying, “When will ^atthe new moon be over,
that we may sell grain?
And ^authe Sabbath,
that we may offer wheat for sale,
that we may make ^avthe ephah small and the shekel ^{▼▼An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters; a shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams} great
and deal deceitfully with false balances,
6 that we may buy the poor for ^axsilver
and the needy for a pair of sandals
and sell the chaff of the wheat?”
7 The Lord has sworn by ^aythe pride of Jacob:
“Surely ^azI will never forget any of their deeds.

Micah 2:1-3

Woe to the Oppressors

1 ^baWoe to those who devise wickedness
and work evil ^bbon their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
because it is in the power of their hand.
2 They covet fields and ^bcseize them,
and houses, and take them away;
they oppress a man and his house,
a man and his inheritance.
3 Therefore thus says the Lord:
behold, against ^bdthis family I am devising disaster, ^{▼▼The same Hebrew word can mean evil or disaster, depending on the context}
from which you cannot remove your necks,
and you ^bfshall not walk haughtily,
^bgfor it will be a time of disaster.

Micah 2:9

9 The women of my people you drive out
from their delightful houses;
from their young children you take away
my splendor forever.

Micah 3:1-4

Rulers and Prophets Denounced

1 And I said:
^bhHear, you heads of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel!
^biIs it not for you to know justice?—
2 you ^bjwho hate the good and love the evil,
^bkwho tear the skin from off my people ^{▼▼Hebrew from off them}
and their flesh from off their bones,
3 ^bmwho eat the flesh of my people,
and flay their skin from off them,
and break their bones in pieces
and chop them up like meat in a pot,
like flesh in a cauldron.
4 ^bnThen they will cry to the Lord,
but he will not answer them;
^bohe will hide his face from them at that time,
because they have made their deeds evil.

Micah 3:9-12

9 ^bpHear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel,
^bqwho detest justice
and make crooked all that is straight,
10 ^brwho build Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11 ^bsIts heads give judgment for a bribe;
^btits priests teach for a price;
^buits prophets practice divination for money;
^bvyet they lean on the Lord and ^bwsay,
“Is not the Lord in the midst of us?
^bxNo disaster shall come upon us.”
12 Therefore because of you
^byZion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem ^bzshall become a heap of ruins,
and ^cathe mountain of the house ^cba wooded height.