Micah 3

1 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?

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 You who are hating good, and loving evil, Taking violently 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 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.”

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 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.

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 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:

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 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.

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 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.”

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 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.

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 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.

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 Building up Zion with blood, And Jerusalem with iniquity.

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

11 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.”

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, 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!

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.