Micah 3

Rulers who consume their people

1I said:
“Listen, heads of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel!
Should you not know justice? 2You hate good and love evil.
You tear the skin from my people
and the flesh from their bones. 3You eat my people’s flesh,
strip off their skin,
break their bones,
and chop them up like meat for a pot,
like flesh in a cauldron.” 4Then they will cry to the LORD,
but he will not answer them.
He will hide his face from them at that time
because their deeds have been evil.

Prophets for hire

5This is what the LORD says about the prophets
who lead my people astray:
“When they have something between their teeth, they proclaim peace;
against anyone who puts nothing in their mouths,
they consecrate war. 6So night will come upon you without vision,
darkness without divination.
The sun will set on the prophets;
the day will grow dark over them. 7The seers will be ashamed
and the diviners disgraced.
They will all cover their upper lips,
for there is no answer from God.” 8But I am filled with power,
with the Spirit of the LORD, with justice and courage,
to declare Jacob’s rebellion to him
and Israel’s sin.

Zion plowed like a field

9Hear this, heads of the house of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel,
you who detest justice
and twist everything that is straight, 10who build Zion with bloodshed
and Jerusalem with injustice. 11Her heads judge for bribes,
her priests teach for a price,
and her prophets divine for silver.
Yet they lean on the LORD and say,
“Is not the LORD among us? No disaster will reach us.” 12So because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble,
and the temple mountain wooded heights.