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I said,

“Please listen, you heads of Jacob,
    and rulers of the house of Israel:
    Isn’t it for you to know justice?
You who hate the good,
    and love the evil;
    who tear off their skin,
    and their flesh from off their bones;
    who also eat the flesh of my people,
    and peel their skin from off them,
    and break their bones,
    and chop them in pieces, as for the pot,
    and as meat within the cauldron.
Then they will cry to Yahweh,
    but he will not answer them.
Yes, he will hide his face from them at that time,
    because they made their deeds evil.”

Yahweh says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray; for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, “Peace!” and whoever doesn’t provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him:

“Therefore night is over you, with no vision,
    and it is dark to you, that you may not divine;
    and the sun will go down on the prophets,
    and the day will be black over them.
The seers shall be disappointed,
    and the diviners confounded.
Yes, they shall all cover their lips;
    for there is no answer from God.”[a]
But as for me, I am full of power by Yahweh’s Spirit,
    and of judgment, and of might,
    to declare to Jacob his disobedience,
    and to Israel his sin.
Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob,
    and rulers of the house of Israel,
    who abhor justice,
    and pervert all equity.
10 They build up Zion with blood,
    and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11 Her leaders judge for bribes,
    and her priests teach for a price,
    and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money:
yet they lean on Yahweh, and say,
    “Isn’t Yahweh among us?
    No disaster will come on us.”
12 Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field,
    and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble,
    and the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest.

Footnotes

  1. 3:7 The Hebrew word rendered “God” is “אֱלֹהִ֑ים” (Elohim).

Rulers and Prophets Denounced

And I said:
(A)Hear, you heads of Jacob
    and rulers of the house of Israel!
(B)Is it not for you to know justice?—
    you (C)who hate the good and love the evil,
(D)who tear the skin from off my people[a]
    and their flesh from off their bones,
(E)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.

(F)Then they will cry to the Lord,
    but he will not answer them;
(G)he will hide his face from them at that time,
    because they have made their deeds evil.

Thus says the Lord concerning (H)the prophets
    who lead my people astray,
(I)who cry “Peace”
    when they have something to eat,
but declare war against him
    who puts nothing into their mouths.
Therefore (J)it shall be night to you, without vision,
    and darkness to you, without divination.
(K)The sun shall go down on the prophets,
    and the day shall be black over them;
(L)the seers shall be disgraced,
    and the diviners put to shame;
(M)they shall all cover their lips,
    for (N)there is no answer from God.
But as for me, (O)I am filled with power,
    with the Spirit of the Lord,
    and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob (P)his transgression
    and to Israel his sin.

(Q)Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
    and rulers of the house of Israel,
(R)who detest justice
    and make crooked all that is straight,
10 (S)who build Zion with blood
    and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11 (T)Its heads give judgment for a bribe;
    (U)its priests teach for a price;
    (V)its prophets practice divination for money;
(W)yet they lean on the Lord and (X)say,
    “Is not the Lord in the midst of us?
    (Y)No disaster shall come upon us.”
12 Therefore because of you
    (Z)Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem (AA)shall become a heap of ruins,
    and (AB)the mountain of the house (AC)a wooded height.

Footnotes

  1. Micah 3:2 Hebrew from off them