Micah 3

Warnings to evil leaders and false prophets

And I said, “Please listen,

O heads of Jacob, and you rulers

of the house of Israel.

Is it not for you to know justice,

2 You who hate the good

and love the evil,

who strip the skin from the people

and the flesh from their bones,

3 Who also eat the flesh of my people,

and flay their skin from them?”

And they break their bones,

and chop them in pieces,

like meat for the pan,

and like flesh in the pot.

3:3 Of course, they were not literally eating the people. These words signify how they violently oppressed them.⚜

4 Then they will call to the LORD,

but he will not hear them.

He will even hide his face

from them at that time,

because of the evil deeds

they have committed.

3:1-4 These rulers and leaders of Jacob and Israel included those of Judah. See vs 9,10.⚜

5 Thus says the LORD concerning

the prophets who cause my people

to go astray,

who cry out ‘Peace’ when

chewing with their teeth,

but prepare war against

the one who puts nothing

into their mouths.

6 Therefore night will come to you,

without a vision,

and darkness will come to you,

without divination.

3:6 Prophets were supposed to have God’s light, but because these particular ones did not want the light God would plunge them into darkness. The punishment exactly fitted their crime.⚜

The sun will go down on the prophets,

and the day will become dark

over them.

The difference between Micah and false prophets

7 Then the seers will be ashamed,

and the diviners confounded.

Yes, they will all cover their lips,

for there is no answer

from God.

3:5-7 The prophets who should have spoken for God were as bad as the leaders of Israel. Instead of leading the people to the truth they led them away from it. Compare Isa 3:12; 9:16; Jer 6:13-14; Matt 7:15; 24:24; 2 Pet 2:1.⚜

8 But truly I am full of power

by the Spirit of the LORD,

and of justice and might,

to declare to Jacob his transgression,

and to Israel his sin.

Complete destruction of Jerusalem because of the wickedness of rulers, priests, prophets

9 Please hear this, you heads

of the house of Jacob,

and rulers of the house of Israel,

you who despise justice,

and pervert every straight thing.

10 They build up Zion by bloodshed,

and Jerusalem with wickedness.

3:10 Compare Micah 7:2; Jer 22:13, 17; Isa 59:7.⚜

11 Her heads judge for reward,

and her priests teach for pay,

and her prophets foretell for money.

Yet they lean on the LORD, and say,

“Is not the LORD among us?

No disaster can come on us”.

3:11 Rulers, priests and prophets wanted only money. They cared nothing at all for people, for goodness, for justice. In other words, they were much like the corrupt society we see today.⚜

12 Therefore, on your account Zion

will be plowed like a field,

and Jerusalem will become heaps,

and the mountain of the temple like

the high places of the forest.