Micah 3

1 Then I said: “Hear now, O leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice?

And I say, “Now hear, O heads of Jacob, And you judges of the house of Israel, Is it not for you to know the judgment?

2 You hate good and love evil. You tear the skin from my people and strip the flesh from their bones.

You who are hating good, and loving evil, Taking violently their skin from off them, And their flesh from off their bones,

3 You eat the flesh of my people after stripping off their skin and breaking their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron.”

And who have eaten the flesh of My people, And their skin from off them have stripped, And their bones they have broken, And they have spread [them] out as in a pot, And as flesh in the midst of a cauldron.”

4 Then they will cry out to the LORD, but He will not answer them. At that time He will hide His face from them because of the evil they have done.

Then they cry to YHWH, And He does not answer them, And hides His face from them at that time, As they have made evil their doings.

5 This is what the LORD says: “As for the prophets who lead My people astray, who proclaim peace while they chew with their teeth, but declare war against one who puts nothing in their mouths:

Thus said YHWH concerning the prophets Who are causing My people to err, Who are biting with their teeth, And have cried “Peace,” And he who does not give to their mouth, They have sanctified against him war:

6 Therefore night will come over you without visions, and darkness without divination. The sun will set on these prophets, and the daylight will turn black over them.

“Therefore you have a night without vision, And you have darkness without divination, And the sun has gone in on the prophets, And the day has been black over them.

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

And the seers have been ashamed, And the diviners have been confounded, And all of them have covered their lip, For there is no answer, O God.”

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

And yet I have been full of power by the Spirit of YHWH, And of judgment, and of might, To declare to Jacob his transgression, And to Israel his sin.

9 Now hear this, O leaders of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who despise justice and pervert all that is right,

Now hear this, O heads of the house of Jacob, And you judges of the house of Israel, Who are making judgment abominable, And pervert all uprightness.

10 who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity.

Building up Zion with blood, And Jerusalem with iniquity.

11 Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets practice divination for money. Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster can come upon us.”

Her heads judge for a bribe, And her priests teach for hire, And her prophets divine for silver, And on YHWH they lean, saying, “Is not YHWH in our midst? Evil does not come in on us.”

12 Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mount a wooded ridge.

Therefore, for your sake, Zion is plowed a field, and Jerusalem is heaps, And the mountain of the house [is] for high places of a forest!