Micah 3 - Easy To Read Version

¹ Then I said,

² But you hate good and love evil!\par You tear the skin off the people.\par You tear the flesh off their bones!\par

³ You are destroying my people! {\cf2\super [37]} \par You take their skin off them,\par and break their bones.\par You chop their bones up like \{meat\}\par to put in the pot!\par

⁴ So, you might pray to the Lord,\par but he will not answer you.\par No, the Lord will hide his face from you.\par Why? Because you do evil things!”\par

⁵ Some false prophets are telling lies to the Lord’s people. The Lord says this about those prophets:

⁶ That is why it is like night for you.\par That is why you don’t have visions. {\cf2\super [38]} \par You can’t see what will happen\par in the future,\par so it is like darkness to you.\par The sun has gone down on the prophets.\par They can’t see what will happen\par in the future,\par so it is like darkness to them.\par

⁷ The seers {\cf2\super [39]} are ashamed.\par The fortune tellers {\cf2\super [40]} are embarrassed.\par They won’t say anything\par because God will not speak to them!\par

⁸ But the Lord’s Spirit has filled me\par with power, goodness, and strength.\par Why? So I can tell Jacob {\cf2\super [41]} about his crimes,\par and so I can tell Israel {\cf2\super [42]} about his sins!”\par

⁹ Leaders of Jacob and rulers of Israel,\par listen to me!\par You hate the right way of living!\par If something is straight,\par then you make it crooked!\par

¹⁰ You build Zion {\cf2\super [43]} by murdering people. {\cf2\super [44]} \par You build Jerusalem by cheating people!\par

¹¹ The judges in Jerusalem accept bribes\par to help them decide who wins in court.\par The priests in Jerusalem must be paid\par before they will teach the people.\par People must pay the prophets\par before they will look into the future.\par And then those leaders expect the Lord\par to help them. They say,\par “The Lord lives here with us.\par So nothing bad will happen to us.”\par

¹² \{Leaders,\} because of you,\par Zion {\cf2\super [45]} will be destroyed.\par It will become a plowed field.\par Jerusalem will become a pile of rocks.\par Temple Mount will be an empty hill {\cf2\super [46]} overgrown with bushes.\par