The LORD is bringing the elders and leaders of his people to judgment. He makes this accusation: "You have plundered vineyards, and your houses are full of what you have taken from the poor.

But once Jehoiada was dead, the leaders of Judah persuaded King Joash to listen to them instead.

The LORD sent prophets to warn them to return to him, but the people refused to listen.

King Joash joined in a conspiracy against Zechariah, and on the king's orders the people stoned Zechariah in the Temple courtyard.

In addition, the leaders of Judah, the priests, and the people followed the sinful example of the nations around them in worshiping idols, and so they defiled the Temple, which the LORD himself had made holy.

I will go to the people in power and talk with them. Surely they know what their God requires, what the LORD wants them to do." But all of them have rejected the LORD's authority and refuse to obey him.

All Israel's leaders trust in their own strength and commit murder.

You have no respect for the holy places, and you don't keep the Sabbath.

Some of them sleep with their father's wife. Some force women to have intercourse with them during their period.

Some of your people murder for pay. Some charge interest on the loans they make to other Israelites and get rich by taking advantage of them. They have forgotten me." The Sovereign LORD has spoken.

"We have sinned, we have been evil, we have done wrong. We have rejected what you commanded us to do and have turned away from what you showed us was right.

We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our rulers, our ancestors, and our whole nation.

The LORD says, "People deceive the king and his officers by their evil plots.

On the day of the king's celebration they made the king and his officials drunk and foolish with wine.

The LORD says, "All their evildoing began in Gilgal. It was there that I began to hate them. And because of the evil they have done, I will drive them out of my land. I will not love them any more; all their leaders have rebelled against me.

Listen, you rulers of Israel! You are supposed to be concerned about justice,

You eat my people up. You strip off their skin, break their bones, and chop them up like meat for the pot.

The next day the Jewish leaders, the elders, and the teachers of the Law gathered in Jerusalem.

They made the apostles stand before them and asked them, "How did you do this? What power do you have or whose name did you use?"

if we are being questioned today about the good deed done to the lame man and how he was healed,

Jesus is the one of whom the scripture says, 'The stone that you the builders despised turned out to be the most important of all.'

A thief 's partner is his own worst enemy. He will be punished if he tells the truth in court, and God will curse him if he doesn't.

and said to them, "It is written in the Scriptures that God said, 'My Temple will be called a house of prayer.' But you are making it a hideout for thieves!"

He then taught the people: "It is written in the Scriptures that God said, 'My Temple will be called a house of prayer for the people of all nations.' But you have turned it into a hideout for thieves!"

saying to them, "It is written in the Scriptures that God said, 'My Temple will be a house of prayer.' But you have turned it into a hideout for thieves!"

You can survive if you say and do what is right. Don't use your power to cheat the poor and don't accept bribes. Don't join with those who plan to commit murder or to do other evil things.

Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe makes people blind to what is right and ruins the cause of those who are innocent.

They are not to be unjust or show partiality in their judgments; and they are not to accept bribes, for gifts blind the eyes even of wise and honest men, and cause them to give wrong decisions.

Corrupt judges accept secret bribes, and then justice is not done.

But you can only see your selfish interests; you kill the innocent and violently oppress your people. The LORD has spoken.

Some of your people murder for pay. Some charge interest on the loans they make to other Israelites and get rich by taking advantage of them. They have forgotten me." The Sovereign LORD has spoken.

After drinking much wine, they delight in their prostitution, preferring disgrace to honor.

They are all experts at doing evil. Officials and judges ask for bribes. The influential people tell them what they want, and so they scheme together.

You are doomed! You make unjust laws that oppress my people.

That is how you keep the poor from having their rights and from getting justice. That is how you take the property that belongs to widows and orphans.

why they are fat and well fed. There is no limit to their evil deeds. They do not give orphans their rights or show justice to the oppressed.

"But I, the LORD, will punish them for these things; I will take revenge on this nation.

Do not oppress widows, orphans, foreigners who live among you, or anyone else in need. And do not plan ways of harming one another.'

The LORD Almighty says, "I will appear among you to judge, and I will testify at once against those who practice magic, against adulterers, against those who give false testimony, those who cheat employees out of their wages, and those who take advantage of widows, orphans, and foreigners---against all who do not respect me.

"In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people.

For a long time the judge refused to act, but at last he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or respect people,