Isa 1:23, 5:7, Jer 5:5-6, 26-29, 6:6-7, Mic 2:1-2, 3:1-3, 9-11, 7:2-6 | ESV | STEP | Your princes are rebels and companions of thieves . Everyone loves a bribe and runs after gifts . They do not bring justice to the fatherless , and the widow’s cause does not come to them.

Isaiah 1:23

23 Your princes are rebels
and companions of thieves.
Everyone ^aloves a bribe
and runs after gifts.
^bThey do not bring justice to the fatherless,
and the widow’s cause does not come to them.

Isaiah 5:7

7 ^cFor the vineyard of the Lord of hosts
is the house of Israel,
and the men of Judah
are his pleasant planting;
and he looked for justice,
but behold, bloodshed; ^{▼▼The Hebrew words for justice and bloodshed sound alike}
for righteousness,
but behold, an outcry! ^{▼▼The Hebrew words for righteous and outcry sound alike}

Jeremiah 5:5-6

5 I will go to the great
and will speak to them,
for they know the way of the Lord,
the justice of their God.”
^fBut they all alike had broken the yoke;
they had burst the bonds.
6 Therefore ^ga lion from the forest shall strike them down;
a ^hwolf from the desert shall devastate them.
ⁱA leopard is watching their cities;
everyone who goes out of them shall be torn in pieces,
because their transgressions are many,
their ^japostasies are great.

Jeremiah 5:26-29

26 For wicked men are found among my people;
^kthey lurk like fowlers lying in wait. ^{▼▼The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain}
^mThey set a trap;
they catch men.
27 Like a cage full of birds,
their houses are full of deceit;
therefore they have become great and rich;
28 ⁿthey have grown fat and sleek.
They know no bounds in deeds of evil;
^othey judge not with justice
the cause of the fatherless, to make it prosper,
and they do not defend the rights of the needy.
29 ^pShall I not punish them for these things?

declares the Lord,
and shall I not avenge myself
on a nation such as this?”

Jeremiah 6:6-7

6 For thus says the Lord of hosts:
^q“Cut down her trees;
^rcast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city that must be ^spunished;
there is nothing but oppression within her.
7 ^tAs a well keeps its water fresh,
so she keeps fresh her evil;
^uviolence and destruction are heard within her;
sickness and wounds are ever before me.

Micah 2:1-2

Woe to the Oppressors

1 ^vWoe to those who devise wickedness
and work evil ^won their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
because it is in the power of their hand.
2 They covet fields and ^xseize them,
and houses, and take them away;
they oppress a man and his house,
a man and his inheritance.

Micah 3:1-3

Rulers and Prophets Denounced

1 And I said:
^yHear, you heads of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel!
^zIs it not for you to know justice?—
2 you ^aawho hate the good and love the evil,
^abwho tear the skin from off my people ^{▼▼Hebrew from off them}
and their flesh from off their bones,
3 ^adwho 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.

Micah 3:9-11

9 ^aeHear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel,
^afwho detest justice
and make crooked all that is straight,
10 ^agwho build Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11 ^ahIts heads give judgment for a bribe;
^aiits priests teach for a price;
^ajits prophets practice divination for money;
^akyet they lean on the Lord and ^alsay,
“Is not the Lord in the midst of us?
^amNo disaster shall come upon us.”

Micah 7:2-6

2 ^anThe godly has perished from the earth,
and ^aothere is no one upright among mankind;
^apthey all lie in wait for blood,
and ^aqeach hunts the other with a net.
3 ^arTheir hands are on what is evil, to do it well;
^asthe prince and ^atthe judge ask for a bribe,
and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;
thus they weave it together.
4 The best of them is ^aulike a brier,
the most upright of them a thorn hedge.
The day of ^avyour watchmen, of your punishment, has come;
^awnow their confusion is at hand.
5 ^axPut no trust in a neighbor;
have no confidence in a friend;
guard ^aythe doors of your mouth
from her who lies in your arms; ^{▼▼Hebrew bosom}
6 for ^bathe son treats the father with contempt,
the daughter rises up against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
^bba man’s enemies are the men of his own house.