Micah 3

1 Then I said, “Please listen, leaders of the descendants of Jacob, people of Israel. You are meant to know the difference between right and wrong,

I also said: ‘Listen now, leaders of Jacob, judges of the house of Israel. Is it not your duty to know what is the right?

2 you who hate good and love evil! You tear off their skin, and rip the flesh from their bones.

Haters of that which is good and lovers of evil!

3 You eat the flesh of my people, you strip off their skin, you break their bones. You chop them up like meat for the saucepan, like flesh for the cooking pot.”

‘They devour the flesh of my people, and their hide they strip from off them, and break in pieces and serve up their bones, like meat in a pot or the cooking pan!

4 Then they'll cry out to the Lord, but he won't answer them. He will turn away from them at that time because of the evil things they have done.

‘Then they will cry out to the Lord, but he will not pay attention to them. He will hide his face from them at that time because they have committed such crimes.’

5 This is what the Lord says about the prophets who deceive my people. To those who feed them they prophesy peace to them, while to those who do not they prophesy war against them.

Therefore the Lord says: ‘To the prophets who lead my people astray, who when they have food between their teeth declare peace, but against one who puts nothing in their mouths, they proclaim an open war!

6 Therefore it will be like night for you, with no visions; dark, with no predictions. The sun will set on these prophets; their day will end in darkness.

‘Night will overtake you so that you have no vision, and darkness so that there will be no divination, and the sun will go down on the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.

7 The seers will be disgraced, the fortune-tellers put to shame, and they will cover their faces because none of them receive any answer from God.

‘The seers will be ashamed, and the diviners will turn pale, all of them will cover their mouths. For there will be no answer from God.

8 But as for me, I am filled with power, with the spirit of the Lord. I am filled with justice and strength to make clear to the descendants of Jacob their rebellion, and to the people of Israel their sin.

‘But I, on the contrary am full of power, and the sense of justice and strength, to make known to Jacob his crime, and to Israel his sin.

9 Listen to me, leaders of the descendants of Jacob and the people of Israel, you who hate justice and distort all that is right.

‘Hear this, leaders of the house of Jacob, judges of the house of Israel, you who spurn justice, and make all that is straight crooked,

10 You are building Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with evil.

who build Zion with acts of bloodshed, and Jerusalem with crime.

11 Your leaders judge for a bribe, and your priests teach for a price, and your prophets only prophesy for pay. Yet they all lean on the Lord saying, “Isn't the Lord here with us? Nothing bad can happen to us!”

‘The leaders render judgment for a bribe, and her priests give oracles for a reward, and her prophets divine for silver. Yet they claim to rely on the Lord, “The Lord”, they say, “is in our midst. Evil cannot overtake us.”

12 Therefore because of you Zion will become a ploughed field and Jerusalem a heap of rubble, and the Temple mount will be overgrown.

‘Therefore for your sakes Zion will be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, and the temple mount a wooded height.’