Micah 3

1 I said, “Please listen, you heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: Isn’t it for you to know justice?

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 the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones;

Haters of that which is good and lovers of evil!

3 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.

‘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 will cry to the LORD, but he will not answer them. Yes, he will hide his face from them at that time, because they made their deeds evil.”

‘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 The LORD 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 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 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.

‘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 shall be disappointed, and the diviners confounded. Yes, they shall all cover their lips, for there is no 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 full of power by the LORD’s Spirit, and of judgement, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, and to Israel his 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 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,

‘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 who build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

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

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 the LORD, and say, “Isn’t the LORD amongst us? No disaster will come on 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 Zion for your sake will be ploughed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest.

‘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.’