Micah 3

1 And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; [Is it] not for you to know judgment?

And I said, Hear, I pray you, O ye heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know what is justice?

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

[But they are those] who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;

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

Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and who crush their bones, and chop them in pieces, as that to be put in a pot, and as flesh within a caldron.

4 Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.

Then will they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them; and he will hide his face from them at that time, as they have committed their evil deeds.

5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.

Thus hath said the Lord concerning the prophets that mislead my people, who, when they have something to bite with their teeth, cry, Peace; but who prepare war against him who putteth nothing in their mouth:

6 Therefore night [shall be] unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.

Therefore shall the night be unto you, without a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, without divining; and the sun shall go down around the prophets, and the day shall be obscured around them.

7 Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for [there is] no answer of God.

Thus shall the seers be made ashamed, and the diviners be put to the blush: yea, they shall all wrap themselves up to the upper lip; for there is no answer of God.

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

But truly I am indeed full of strength by the spirit of the Lord, and [of power] of judging, and of might, to tell unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.

9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.

Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel, that abhor justice, and make crooked all that is straight.

10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

They build up Zion with blood-guiltiness, and Jerusalem with wrong.

11 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 among us? none evil can come upon us.

Her heads judge for bribes, and her priests teach for reward, and her prophets divine for money: and yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? evil cannot come over us.

12 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 the forest.

Therefore for your sake shall Zion be ploughed up as a field, and Jerusalem shall become ruinous heaps, and the mount of the house, forest-covered high-places.