Micah 3

3RD CHAPTER

Israel’s Sinful Leaders—Rulers, Prophets, and Priests

¹Then I said: 

Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the nation of Israel. 

You should know justice. 

²You hate good and love evil. 

You strip the skin off my people and the flesh off their bones. 

³You eat my people’s flesh. 

You strip off their skin. 

You break their bones to pieces. 

You chop them up like meat for a pot, like stew meat for a kettle. 

⁴Then you will cry to the Lord, 

but he will not answer you. 

He will hide his face from you at that time 

because you have done evil things. 

⁵This is what the Lord says about the prophets who mislead my people: 

When they have something to eat, they say, “All is well!” 

But they declare a holy war against those who don’t feed them. 

⁶That is why you will have nights without visions. 

You will have darkness without revelations. 

The sun will set on the prophets, 

and the day will turn dark for them. 

⁷Seers^awill be put to shame. 

Those who practice witchcraft will be disgraced. 

All of them will cover their faces, because God won’t answer them. 

⁸But I am filled with the power of the Lord’s Spirit, 

with justice, and with strength. 

So I will tell ⸤the descendants of⸥ Jacob about their crimes 

and ⸤the nation of⸥ Israel about its sins. 

⁹Listen to this, you leaders of the descendants of Jacob, 

you rulers of the nation of Israel. 

You despise justice and pervert everything that is right. 

¹⁰You build Zion on bloodshed and Jerusalem on wickedness. 

¹¹Your leaders exchange justice for bribes. 

Your priests teach for a price. 

Your prophets tell the future for money. 

But they rely on the Lord when they say, 

“After all, the Lord is with us. 

Nothing bad will happen to us.” 

¹²Because of you, 

Zion will be plowed like a field, 

Jerusalem will become a pile of rubble, 

and the temple mountain will become a worship site 

covered with trees.