Micah 3

Rulers and Prophets Denounced

1 And I said:

*See ch. 1:2Hear, you heads of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel!

*Jer. 5:5;[Ezek. 22:6,27]Is it not for you to know justice?—

2 you *[ver. 9] who hate the good and love the evil,

*[Ezek. 34:3]who tear the skin from off my people*3:2 Hebrew from off them

and their flesh from off their bones,

3 *[Ps. 14:4;Isa. 3:15]who 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.

4 *See Prov. 1:28Then they will cry to the Lord,

but he will not answer them;

*Isa. 1:15;See Deut. 31:17he will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have made their deeds evil.

5 Thus says the Lord concerning *Jer. 23:13,32;Ezek. 13:10the prophets

who lead my people astray,

*[Jer. 6:14]who cry "Peace"

when they have something to eat,

but declare war against him

who puts nothing into their mouths.

6 Therefore *Ezek. 12:24;13:23it shall be night to you, without vision,

and darkness to you, without divination.

*See Amos 8:9The sun shall go down on the prophets,

and the day shall be black over them;

7 *Zech. 13:4;[Jer. 37:19] the seers shall be disgraced,

and the diviners put to shame;

*[Lev. 13:45] they shall all cover their lips,

for *See Amos 8:11there is no answer from God.

8 But as for me, *[Jer. 6:11] I am filled with power,

with the Spirit of the Lord,

and with justice and might,

to declare to Jacob *ch. 1:5;Isa. 58:1;[Ezek. 23:36]his transgression

and to Israel his sin.

9 *See ch. 1:2Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel,

*[ver. 2]who detest justice

and make crooked all that is straight,

10 *Jer. 22:13;Ezek. 22:27;Hab. 2:12who build Zion with blood

and Jerusalem with iniquity.

11 *ch. 7:3;Isa. 1:23Its heads give judgment for a bribe;

*See Jer. 6:13its priests teach for a price;

*[ver. 5; Ezek. 22:25] its prophets practice divination for money;

*Isa. 48:2yet they lean on the Lord and *Jer. 7:4;[Amos 5:14] say,

"Is not the Lord in the midst of us?

*[Jer. 23:17;Amos 9:10]No disaster shall come upon us."

12 Therefore because of you

*Cited Jer. 26:18Zion shall be plowed as a field;

Jerusalem *[ch. 1:6] shall become a heap of ruins,

and *ch. 4:2the mountain of the house *[Luke 13:35]a wooded height.