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Listen to this, you leaders of the family[a] of Jacob,
you rulers of the nation[b] of Israel!
You[c] hate justice
and pervert all that is right.
10 You[d] build Zion through bloody crimes,[e]
Jerusalem through unjust violence.
11 Her[f] leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases,[g]
her priests proclaim rulings for profit,
and her prophets read omens for pay.
Yet they claim to trust[h] the Lord and say,
“The Lord is among us.[i]
Disaster will not overtake[j] us!”
12 Therefore, because of you,[k] Zion will be plowed up like[l] a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
and the Temple Mount[m] will become a hill overgrown with brush![n]

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Footnotes

  1. Micah 3:9 tn Heb “house.”
  2. Micah 3:9 tn Heb “house.”
  3. Micah 3:9 tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons (also at the beginning of v. 10).
  4. Micah 3:10 tn Heb “who.”
  5. Micah 3:10 tn Heb “bloodshed” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NLT “murder.”
  6. Micah 3:11 sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).
  7. Micah 3:11 tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”
  8. Micah 3:11 tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”
  9. Micah 3:11 tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”
  10. Micah 3:11 tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”
  11. Micah 3:12 tn The plural pronoun refers to the leaders, priests, and prophets mentioned in the preceding verse.
  12. Micah 3:12 tn Or “into” (an adverbial accusative of result).
  13. Micah 3:12 tn Heb “the mountain of the house” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).
  14. Micah 3:12 tn Heb “a high place of overgrowth.”

Now hear this, you (A)heads of the house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who (B)despise justice
And twist everything that is straight,
10 Who (C)build Zion with bloodshed,
And Jerusalem with malice.
11 Her leaders pronounce (D)judgment for a bribe,
Her (E)priests teach for pay,
And her prophets divine for money.
Yet they lean on the Lord, saying,
(F)Is the Lord not in our midst?
Catastrophe will not come upon us.”
12 Therefore on account of you,
(G)Zion will be plowed like a field,
(H)Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
And the (I)mountain of the [a]temple will become high places of a forest.

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Footnotes

  1. Micah 3:12 Lit house