Micah 3

Judgment against Israel’s Leaders

¹I said, “Listen, you leaders of Israel!

You are supposed to know right from wrong,

²but you are the very ones

who hate good and love evil.

You skin my people alive

and tear the flesh from their bones.

³Yes, you eat my people’s flesh,

strip off their skin,

and break their bones.

You chop them up

like meat for the cooking pot.

⁴Then you beg the Lord for help in times of trouble!

Do you really expect him to answer?

After all the evil you have done,

he won’t even look at you!”

⁵This is what the Lord says:

“You false prophets are leading my people astray!

You promise peace for those who give you food,

but you declare war on those who refuse to feed you.

⁶Now the night will close around you,

cutting off all your visions.

Darkness will cover you,

putting an end to your predictions.

The sun will set for you prophets,

and your day will come to an end.

⁷Then you seers will be put to shame,

and you fortune-tellers will be disgraced.

And you will cover your faces

because there is no answer from God.”

⁸But as for me, I am filled with power—

with the Spirit of the Lord.

I am filled with justice and strength

to boldly declare Israel’s sin and rebellion.

⁹Listen to me, you leaders of Israel!

You hate justice and twist all that is right.

¹⁰You are building Jerusalem

on a foundation of murder and corruption.

¹¹You rulers make decisions based on bribes;

you priests teach God’s laws only for a price;

you prophets won’t prophesy unless you are paid.

Yet all of you claim to depend on the Lord.

“No harm can come to us,” you say,

“for the Lord is here among us.”

¹²Because of you, Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field;

Jerusalem will be reduced to ruins!

A thicket will grow on the heights

where the Temple now stands.