Rulers and Prophets Denounced
MICAH 3 [†] And I said:
l Hear, you heads of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel!
m Is it not for you to know justice?—
2 you n who hate the good and love the evil,
o who tear the skin from off my people [1]
and their flesh from off their bones,
3 p who eat the flesh of my people,
and flay their skin from off them,
and break their bones in pieces
and chop them up like meat in a pot,
like flesh in a cauldron.
4[†] q Then they will cry to the LORD,
but he will not answer them;
r he will hide his face from them at that time,
because they have made their deeds evil.
5[^][†] Thus says the LORD concerning s the prophets
who lead my people astray,
t who cry “Peace”
when they have something to eat,
but declare war against him
who puts nothing into their mouths.
6[†] Therefore u it shall be night to you, without vision,
and darkness to you, without divination.
v The sun shall go down on the prophets,
and the day shall be black over them;
7 w the seers shall be disgraced,
and the diviners put to shame;
x they shall all cover their lips,
for y there is no answer from God.
8[†] But as for me, z I am filled with power,
with the Spirit of the LORD,
and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob a his transgression
and to Israel his sin.
9[†] b Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel,
c who detest justice
and make crooked all that is straight,
10 d who build Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11[†] e Its heads give judgment for a bribe;
f its priests teach for a price;
g its prophets practice divination for money;
h yet they lean on the LORD and i say,
“Is not the LORD in the midst of us?
j No disaster shall come upon us.”
12[^][†] Therefore because of you
k Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem l shall become a heap of ruins,