Micah 3

Wicked Rulers and Prophets

3And I said:

“Hear now, O heads of Jacob,

And you ^arulers of the house of Israel:

^bIs it not for you to know justice?

²You who hate good and love evil;

Who strip the skin from ¹My people,

And the flesh from their bones;

³Who also ^ceat the flesh of My people,

Flay their skin from them,

Break their bones,

And chop them in pieces

Like meat for the pot,

^dLike flesh in the caldron.”

⁴Then ^ethey will cry to the Lord,

But He will not hear them;

He will even hide His face from them at that time,

Because they have been evil in their deeds.

⁵Thus says the Lord ^fconcerning the prophets

Who make my people stray;

Who chant ²“Peace”

³While they ^gchew with their teeth,

But who prepare war against him

^hWho puts nothing into their mouths:

⁶“Therefore ⁱyou shall have night without ⁴vision,

And you shall have darkness without divination;

The sun shall go down on the prophets,

And the day shall be dark for ^jthem.

⁷So the seers shall be ashamed,

And the diviners abashed;

Indeed they shall all cover their lips;

^kFor there is no answer from God.”

⁸But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord,

And of justice and might,

^lTo declare to Jacob his transgression

And to Israel his sin.

⁹Now hear this,

You heads of the house of Jacob

And rulers of the house of Israel,

Who abhor justice

And ⁵pervert all equity,

^10mWho build up Zion with ⁿbloodshed

And Jerusalem with iniquity:

^11oHer heads judge for a bribe,

^pHer priests teach for pay,

And her prophets divine for ⁶money.

^qYet they lean on the Lord, and say,

“Is not the Lord among us?

No harm can come upon us.”

¹²Therefore because of you

Zion shall be ^rplowed like a field,

^sJerusalem shall become heaps of ruins,

And ^tthe mountain of the ⁷temple

Like the bare hills of the forest.