Micah 3 - Christian Standard Bible Anglicised

Unjust Leaders Judged

¹ Then I said, ‘Now listen,  leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Aren’t you supposed to know what is just?

² You hate good and love evil. You tear off people’s skin and strip their flesh from their bones.

³ You eat the flesh  of my people after you strip their skin from them and break their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron.’

⁴ Then they will cry out  to the  Lord, but he will not answer them. He will hide his face from them at that time because of the crimes they have committed.

False Prophets Judged

⁵ This is what the  Lord  says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who proclaim  peace when they have food to sink their teeth into but declare war against the one who puts nothing in their mouths.

⁶ Therefore, it will be night  for you – without visions; it will grow dark for you – without divination. The sun will set  on these prophets, and the daylight will turn black over them.

⁷ Then the seers will be ashamed and the diviners disappointed. They will all cover their mouths  , because there will be no answer from God.

⁸ As for me, however, I am filled with power by the Spirit of the  Lord, with justice and courage, to proclaim to Jacob his rebellion and to Israel his sin.

Zion’s Destruction

⁹ Listen to this, leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert everything that is right,

¹⁰ who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with injustice.

¹¹ Her leaders issue rulings for a bribe, her priests teach for payment, and her prophets practise divination for silver. Yet they lean on the  Lord, saying, ‘Isn’t the Lord   among us? No disaster will overtake us.’

¹² Therefore, because of you, Zion will be ploughed like a field, Jerusalem will become ruins, and the temple’s mountain will be a high thicket.