Micha 3 | New International Reader’s Version

The Lord warns Israel’s leaders and prophets

1 Then I said, ‘Listen, you leaders of Jacob’s people! Pay attention, you rulers of Israel! You should want to judge others fairly. 2 But you hate what is good. And you love what is evil. You are like someone who tears the skin off my people. You pull the meat off their bones. 3 You eat my people’s bodies. You strip off their skin. You break their bones in pieces. You chop them up like meat. You put them in a cooking pot.’ 4 The time will come when Israel will cry out to the LORD. But he won’t answer them. In fact, he’ll turn his face away from them. They have done what is evil. 5 The LORD says, ‘The prophets are those who lead my people astray. If my people feed them, the prophets promise them peace. If my people do not feed them, the prophets prepare to go to war against them. 6 So night will come on the prophets. But they will not have any visions. Darkness will cover them. But they will not be able to figure out what is going to happen. The sun will set on the prophets. The day will become dark for them. 7 Those who see visions will be put to shame. Those who try to figure out what is going to happen will be dishonoured. All of them will cover their faces. I will not answer them.’ 8 The Spirit of the LORD has filled me with power. He helps me do what is fair. He makes me brave. Now I’m prepared to tell Jacob’s people what they’ve done wrong. I’m ready to tell Israel they’ve sinned. 9 Listen to me, you leaders of Jacob’s people! Pay attention, you rulers of Israel! You hate to do what is fair. You twist everything that is right. 10 You build up Zion by spilling the blood of others. You build Jerusalem by doing what is evil. 11 Your judges take money from people who want special favours. Your priests teach only if they get paid for it. Your prophets won’t tell fortunes unless they receive money. But you still look for the LORD’s help. You say, ‘The LORD is with us. No trouble will come on us.’ 12 So because of what you have done, Zion will be ploughed up like a field. Jerusalem will be turned into a pile of rubble. The temple hill will be covered with bushes and weeds.

English Standard Version

Rulers and Prophets Denounced

1 And I said: Hear, you heads of Jacob and 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 tear the skin from off my people* and their flesh from off their bones, 3 who eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones in pieces and chop them up like meat in a pot, like flesh in a cauldron. 4 Then they will cry to the Lord, but he will not answer them; he will hide his face from them at that time, because they have made their deeds evil. 5 Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry “Peace” when they have something to eat, but declare war against him who puts nothing into their mouths. 6 Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without divination. The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be black over them; 7 the seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put to shame; they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God. 8 But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin. 9 Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who detest justice and make crooked all that is straight, 10 who build Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity. 11 Its heads give judgment for a bribe; its priests teach for a price; its prophets practice divination for money; yet they lean on the Lord and say, “Is not the Lord in the midst of us? No disaster shall come upon us.” 12 Therefore because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.

Micha 3 | New International Reader’s Version English Standard Version

The Lord warns Israel’s leaders and prophets

Rulers and Prophets Denounced