Micah 3
1 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?
I also said: Hear, O ye heads of Jacob, And ye leaders of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to administer justice?
2 [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;
But ye hate what is good, and love what is evil; Ye tear from men their skin, Yea, their flesh from their bones;
3 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.
Ye devour the flesh of my people, And strip them of their skin, And break their bones, And cut them in pieces, as for the pot, And as flesh for the caldron?
4 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.
Then shall they cry to Jehovah, But he will not hear them; Yea, at that time will he hide his face from them, Because they have done iniquity.
5 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:
Thus saith Jehovah concerning the prophets, who deceive my people, Who, while they bite with their teeth, proclaim peace, But who, if one fill not their mouths, prepare war against him:
6 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.
Therefore shall night come upon you, so that ye shall have no vision, And darkness, so that ye shall not divine; The sun shall go down upon the prophets, And the day shall be dark to them.
7 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.
Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded, So that all of them shall hide their faces, Because there is no answer from God.
8 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.
But I am full of power, even of the spirit of Jehovah; Full of uprightness and courage, To declare to Jacob his transgression, And to Israel his sin.
9 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.
O hear this, ye heads of the house of Jacob, And ye leaders of the house of Israel, Who abhor justice, And pervert all equity,
10 They build up Zion with blood-guiltiness, and Jerusalem with wrong.
Who build up Zion with blood, And Jerusalem with iniquity!
11 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.
Her heads judge for reward, And her priests teach for hire, And her prophets divine for money, And yet they lean upon Jehovah, saying, “Is not Jehovah in the midst of us? No evil can come upon us.”
12 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.
Therefore because of you shall Zion be ploughed as a field, And Jerusalem become heaps of stones, And the mountain of the temple like the heights of a forest.
