Micah 3

1 Then I said, “You Israeli [MTY] leaders, listen [to what I say]! You should certainly [RHQ] know what things are right [to do] [and what things are wrong],

And I said: Hear, I pray you, ye heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: is it not for you to know justice?

2 but you hate what is good and you love what is evil. [You act like butchers]: [it is as though] you strip the skin off my people and [tear] the flesh from their bones.

Who hate the good, and love the evil; who rob their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;

3 [It is as though] you chop them into pieces like [SIM] meat [to be cooked] in a pot.

Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones; yea, they chop them in pieces, as that which is in the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.

4 Then, [when you have troubles], you plead to Yahweh [to help you], but he will not answer you. At that time, he will turn away from you because of the evil things that you have done.”

Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but He will not answer them; yea, He will hide His face from them at that time, according as they have wrought evil in their doings.

5 This is what Yahweh says about your [false] prophets who are deceiving the people: “If someone gives them food, those prophets say that things will go well for him. But they declare war against anyone who does not give them food.

Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people to err; that cry: 'Peace', when their teeth have any thing to bite; and whoso putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him:

6 So [now it is as though] [MET] night will descend on you prophets; you will not receive any [more] visions. [It is as though] [MET] the sun will set for you; the time [when you are greatly honored] will end.

Therefore it shall be night unto you, that ye shall have no vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be black over them.

7 [Then] you (seers/people who predict what will happen in the future) [DOU] will be disgraced; you will cover your faces [because you will be ashamed], because when you ask me [what will happen], there will be no answer from me.”

And the seers shall be put to shame, and the diviners confounded; yea, they shall all cover their upper lips; for there shall be no answer of God.

8 But as for me, I am full of [God’s] power, [power] from the Spirit of Yahweh. I am courageous and strong to declare to the Israeli people [MTY, DOU] that they have sinned and rebelled [against Yahweh].

But I truly am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of justice, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.

9 You leaders of the people [MTY] of Israel, listen to this! You hate [it when people do] what is just; and [when people say] what is true, you distort it, [saying it is false].

Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, that abhor justice, and pervert all equity;

10 [It is as though] you are building [houses in] Jerusalem on foundations that consist of murdering people and doing what is corrupt.

That build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

11 Your leaders make [favorable] decisions [only if they receive] bribes. Your priests teach people only if [those people] pay them [well]. Your [false] prophets require people to pay them to tell people what will happen [to them] in the future. Those prophets say, “Yahweh is telling us [what we should say], and [we say that] we will not experience any disasters.”

The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money; yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say: 'Is not the LORD in the midst of us? No evil shall come upon us'?

12 Because of what you [leaders do], Zion [Hill] will be plowed like a field; it will become a heap of ruins/rubble; the top of the hill, where the temple is [now], will be covered with bushes.

Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.