Micah 3
1 Then said I, Hear, I pray you, ye heads of Jacob, and ye judges of the house of Israel, —Is it not yours to know 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 Ye haters of right, and lovers of wrong, —tearing away 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 indeed have eaten the flesh of my people, and, their skin from off them, have stript, and, their bones, have they broken in pieces, —and will spread them out, as flesh with a fork, and as flesh, in the midst of a pot.
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, shall they make outcry unto Yahweh, but he will not answer them, —that he may hide his face from them, at that time, even as they have made wicked their doings.
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, saith Yahweh, concerning the prophets who are leading astray my people, —who bite with their teeth, and then cry—Prosper! and whoso holdeth not to their mouth, they hallow against him a war!
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 it be night to you, for lack of vision, and darkness to you, for lack of divination, —and the sun, shall go in, over the prophets, and the day, shall be overcast because of 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 And the men of vision, shall turn pale, and the diviners, shall blush, and shall put a covering upon their lip, all of them, —because 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, in very deed, I, am full of vigour, with the spirit of Yahweh, and of justice and of valour, —to declare to 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 judges of the house of Israel, —who abhor justice, and, all right, do pervert:
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 Building Zion, with deeds of blood, —and Jerusalem, with perversity.
Who build up Zion with blood, And Jerusalem with iniquity!
11 Her heads, for a bribe, pronounce sentence, and, her priests, for a price, give direction, and, her prophets, for silver, divine, —yet, on Yahweh, they lean, saying, Is not, Yahweh, in our midst? there shall not come upon us, calamity.
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 Wherefore, for your sake, Zion, as a field, shall be ploughed, and, Jerusalem, unto heaps of ruins, shall be turned, —and, the mountain of the house, shall [be] like mounds in a jungle.
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.
