Micah 3:1-4:8

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 silver.
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 temple’s mountain^(Z)
will be a high 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’s 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 person 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 Armies
has spoken.
⁵ Though all the peoples walk
in the name of their own gods,^(AM)
we will walk^(AN) in the name of the Lord our God
forever and ever.^(AO)