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Micah 3
New American Standard Bible
Micah 3
New American Standard Bible
Rulers Denounced
3 And I said,
“(A)Hear now, you [a]leaders of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel:
Is it not for you to (B)know justice?
2 You who hate good and love evil,
Who (C)tear off their skin from them
And their flesh from their bones,
3 Who (D)eat the flesh of my people,
Strip off their skin from them,
Smash their bones,
And (E)chop them up as for the pot,
And as meat in a cauldron!”
4 Then they will (F)cry out to the Lord,
But He will not answer them.
Instead, He will (G)hide His face from them at that time
Because they have (H)practiced evil deeds.
5 This is what the Lord says concerning the prophets who (I)lead my people astray:
When they have something to bite with their teeth,
They (J)cry out, “Peace!”
But against him who puts nothing in their mouths
They declare holy war.
6 Therefore it will be (K)night for you—without vision,
And darkness for you—without divination.
The (L)sun will go down on the prophets,
And the day will become dark over them.
7 The seers will be (M)put to shame,
And the (N)diviners will be ashamed.
Indeed, they will all (O)cover their [b]lips
Because there is (P)no answer from God.
8 On the other hand, (Q)I am filled with power—
With the Spirit of the Lord—
And with justice and courage
To (R)make known to Jacob his rebellious act,
And to Israel his sin.
9 Now hear this, you (S)heads of the house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who (T)despise justice
And twist everything that is straight,
10 Who (U)build Zion with bloodshed,
And Jerusalem with malice.
11 Her leaders pronounce (V)judgment for a bribe,
Her (W)priests teach for pay,
And her prophets divine for money.
Yet they lean on the Lord, saying,
“(X)Is the Lord not in our midst?
Catastrophe will not come upon us.”
12 Therefore on account of you,
(Y)Zion will be plowed like a field,
(Z)Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
And the (AA)mountain of the [c]temple will become high places of a forest.
Footnotes
- Micah 3:1 Lit heads
- Micah 3:7 Lit mustache
- Micah 3:12 Lit house
Micah 3
New International Version
Micah 3
New International Version
Leaders and Prophets Rebuked
3 Then I said,
“Listen, you leaders(A) of Jacob,
you rulers of Israel.
Should you not embrace justice,
2 you who hate good and love evil;
who tear the skin from my people
and the flesh from their bones;(B)
3 who eat my people’s flesh,(C)
strip off their skin
and break their bones in pieces;(D)
who chop(E) them up like meat for the pan,
like flesh for the pot?(F)”
4 Then they will cry out to the Lord,
but he will not answer them.(G)
At that time he will hide his face(H) from them
because of the evil they have done.(I)
5 This is what the Lord says:
“As for the prophets
who lead my people astray,(J)
they proclaim ‘peace’(K)
if they have something to eat,
but prepare to wage war against anyone
who refuses to feed them.
6 Therefore night will come over you, without visions,
and darkness, without divination.(L)
The sun will set for the prophets,(M)
and the day will go dark for them.(N)
7 The seers will be ashamed(O)
and the diviners disgraced.(P)
They will all cover(Q) their faces(R)
because there is no answer from God.(S)”
8 But as for me, I am filled with power,
with the Spirit of the Lord,
and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression,
to Israel his sin.(T)
9 Hear this, you leaders of Jacob,
you rulers of Israel,
who despise justice
and distort all that is right;(U)
10 who build(V) Zion with bloodshed,(W)
and Jerusalem with wickedness.(X)
11 Her leaders judge for a bribe,(Y)
her priests teach for a price,(Z)
and her prophets tell fortunes for money.(AA)
Yet they look(AB) for the Lord’s support and say,
“Is not the Lord among us?
No disaster will come upon us.”(AC)
12 Therefore because of you,
Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,(AD)
the temple(AE) hill a mound overgrown with thickets.(AF)
Micah 3
The Message
Micah 3
The Message
Haters of Good, Lovers of Evil
3 1-3 Then I said:
“Listen, leaders of Jacob, leaders of Israel:
Don’t you know anything of justice?
Haters of good, lovers of evil:
Isn’t justice in your job description?
But you skin my people alive.
You rip the meat off their bones.
You break up the bones, chop the meat,
and throw it in a pot for cannibal stew.”
4 The time’s coming, though, when these same leaders
will cry out for help to God, but he won’t listen.
He’ll turn his face the other way
because of their history of evil.
* * *
5-7 Here is God’s Message to the prophets,
the preachers who lie to my people:
“For as long as they’re well paid and well fed,
the prophets preach, ‘Isn’t life wonderful! Peace to all!’
But if you don’t pay up and jump on their bandwagon,
their ‘God bless you’ turns into ‘God damn you.’
Therefore, you’re going blind. You’ll see nothing.
You’ll live in deep shadows and know nothing.
The sun has set on the prophets.
They’ve had their day; from now on it’s night.
Visionaries will be confused,
experts will be all mixed up.
They’ll hide behind their reputations and make lame excuses
to cover up their God-ignorance.”
* * *
8 But me—I’m filled with God’s power,
filled with God’s Spirit of justice and strength,
Ready to confront Jacob’s crime
and Israel’s sin.
9-12 The leaders of Jacob and
the leaders of Israel are
Leaders contemptuous of justice,
who twist and distort right living,
Leaders who build Zion by killing people,
who expand Jerusalem by committing crimes.
Judges sell verdicts to the highest bidder,
priests mass-market their teaching,
prophets preach for high fees,
All the while posturing and pretending
dependence on God:
“We’ve got God on our side.
He’ll protect us from disaster.”
Because of people like you,
Zion will be turned back into farmland,
Jerusalem end up as a pile of rubble,
and instead of the Temple on the mountain,
a few scraggly scrub pines.
New American Standard Bible (NASB) 
New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson