⁹ Hear this, I pray you, heads of the house of Jacob, And ye judges of the house of Israel, Who are making judgment abominable, And all uprightness do pervert.

¹ To the Overseer. -- `Destroy not.' -- A secret treasure, by David. Is it true, O dumb one, righteously ye speak? Uprightly ye judge, O sons of men?

² Even in heart ye work iniquities, In the land the violence of your hands ye ponder.

²³ Thy princes `are' apostates, and companions of thieves, Every one loving a bribe, and pursuing rewards, The fatherless they judge not, And the plea of the widow cometh not to them.

¹⁶ `Go, and thou hast gathered the elders of Israel, and hast said unto them: Jehovah, God of your fathers, hath appeareth unto me, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, I have certainly inspected you, and that which is done to you in Egypt;

¹⁵ and if at My statutes ye kick, and if My judgments your soul loathe, so as not to do all My commands -- to your breaking My covenant --

¹⁹ `Cursed `is' he who is turning aside the judgment of fatherless, sojourner, and widow, -- and all the people have said, Amen.

¹⁵ Whoso is justifying the wicked, And condemning the righteous, Even both of these `are' an abomination to Jehovah.

²⁸ They have been fat, they have shone, Yea, they have overpassed the acts of the evil, Judgment they have not judged, The judgment of the fatherless -- and they prosper, And the judgment of the needy they have not judged.

¹ `Hear this, O priests, and attend, O house of Israel, And, O house of the king, give ear, For the judgment `is' for you, For, a snare ye have been on Mizpah, And a net spread out on Tabor.

¹ And I say, `Hear, I pray you, heads of Jacob, And ye judges of the house of Israel, Is it not for you to know the judgment?