Micah 3

1 And I sayd, Heare, I pray you, O heads of Iaakob, and yee princes of the house of Israel: should not ye knowe iudgement?

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,

2 But they hate the good, and loue the euill: they plucke off their skinnes from them, and their flesh from their bones.

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

3 And they eate also the flesh of my people, and flay off their skinne from them, and they breake their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.

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.”

4 Then shall they crye vnto the Lord, but he will not heare them: he wil euen hide his face from them at that time, because they haue done wickedly in their workes.

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.

5 Thus saith the Lord, Concerning the prophets that deceiue my people, and bite them with their teeth, and cry peace, but if a man put not into their mouthes, they prepare warre against him,

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.

6 Therefore night shalbe vnto you for a vision, and darkenesse shalbe vnto you for a diuination, and the sunne shall goe downe ouer the prophets, and the day shalbe darke ouer them.

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.

7 Then shall the Seers bee ashamed, and the southsayers confounded: yea, they shall all couer their lippes, for they haue none answere of God.

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.

8 Yet notwithstanding I am full of power by the Spirite of the Lord, and of iudgement, and of strength to declare vnto Iaakob his transgression, and to Israel his sinne.

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.

9 Heare this, I pray you, ye heades of the house of Iaakob, and princes of the house of Israel: they abhorre iudgement, and peruert all equitie.

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

10 They build vp Zion with blood, and Ierusalem with iniquitie.

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

11 The heads thereof iudge for rewardes, and the Priestes thereof teache for hyre, and the prophets thereof prophecie for money: yet wil they leane vpon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among vs? no euill can come vpon vs.

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!”

12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake bee plowed as a field, and Ierusalem shalbe an heape, and the mountaine of the house, as the hye places of the forest.

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