Micah 3-4

Holman Christian Standard Bible

3 Then I said, “Now listen,^(A) leaders of Jacob,
you rulers of the house of Israel.
Aren’t you supposed to know what is just?^(B)
2 You hate good and love evil.
You tear off people’s skin^(C)
and strip their flesh from their bones.
³ You eat the flesh^(D) of my people
after you strip their skin from them
and break their bones.
You chop them up^(E)
like flesh for the cooking pot,
like meat in a cauldron.”
⁴ Then they will cry out^(F) to the Lord,
but He will not answer them.
He will hide His face from them at that time^(G)
because of the crimes they have committed.

⁵ This is what the Lord says
concerning the prophets
who lead my people astray,^(H)
who proclaim^(I) peace
when they have food to sink their teeth into
but declare war against the one
who puts nothing in their mouths.
⁶ Therefore, it will be night^(J) for you—
without visions;
it will grow dark for you—
without divination.^(K)
The sun will set^(L) on these prophets,
and the daylight will turn black over them.
⁷ Then the seers will be ashamed^(M)
and the diviners disappointed.^(N)
They will all cover their mouths^[a](O)
because there will be no answer from God.^(P)

⁹ Listen to this, leaders of the house of Jacob,^(S)
you rulers of the house of Israel,
who abhor justice^(T)
and pervert everything that is right,
¹⁰ who build Zion with bloodshed^(U)
and Jerusalem with injustice.
¹¹ Her leaders issue rulings for a bribe,^(V)
her priests teach for payment,^(W)
and her prophets practice divination for money.
Yet they lean on the Lord, saying,
“Isn’t the Lord^(X) among us?
No disaster will overtake us.”
¹² Therefore, because of you,
Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become ruins,^(Y)
and the hill of the temple mount^(Z)
will be a thicket.^(AA)

4 In the last days^(AB)
the mountain of the Lord’s house^(AC)
will be established
at the top of the mountains
and will be raised above the hills.
Peoples will stream to it,^(AD)
2 and many nations will come and say,^(AE)
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,^(AF)
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us about His ways^(AG)
so we may walk in His paths.”
For instruction will go out of Zion^(AH)
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
³ He will settle disputes among many peoples^(AI)
and provide arbitration for strong nations
that are far away.
They will beat their swords into plows,
and their spears into pruning knives.
Nation will not take up the sword against nation,
and they will never again train for war.
⁴ But each man will sit under his grapevine^(AJ)
and under his fig tree
with no one to frighten him.^(AK)
For the mouth of the Lord^(AL) of Hosts
has promised this.
⁵ Though all the peoples each walk
in the name of their gods,^(AM)
we will walk^(AN) in the name of Yahweh our God
forever and ever.^(AO)

⁹ Now, why are you shouting loudly?^(AU)
Is there no king with you?
Has your counselor perished^(AV)
so that anguish grips you like a woman in labor?
¹⁰ Writhe and cry out,^[c](AW) Daughter Zion,
like a woman in labor,
for now you will leave the city^(AX)
and camp in the open fields.
You will go to Babylon;
there you will be rescued;^(AY)
there the Lord will redeem you^(AZ)
from the power of your enemies!
¹¹ Many nations have now assembled against you;^(BA)
they say, “Let her be defiled,
and let us feast our eyes on Zion.”
¹² But they do not know the Lord’s intentions^(BB)
or understand His plan,
that He has gathered them
like sheaves to the threshing floor.
¹³ Rise and thresh,^(BC) Daughter Zion,
for I will make your horns iron
and your hooves bronze,
so you can crush many peoples.^(BD)
Then you^[d] will set apart their plunder^(BE)
to the Lord for destruction,
their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.