Micah 3

Judgment against Israel’s Leaders

3I said, “Listen, you leaders of Israel! You are supposed to know right from wrong,H559H8085H7218H3290H7101H1004H3478H3045H49412but you are the very ones who hate good and love evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh from their bones.H8130H2896H157H7451H1497H5785H7607H61063Yes, you eat my people’s flesh, strip off their skin, and break their bones. You chop them up like meat for the cooking pot.H398H7607H5971H6584H5785H6476H6106H6566H5518H1320H8432H70374Then 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!”H2199H3068H6030H5641H6440H6256H7489H46115This 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.H559H3068H5030H5971H8582H5391H8127H7121H7965H5414H6310H6942H44216Now 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.H3915H2377H2821H2821H7080H8121H935H5030H3117H69377Then 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.”H2374H954H7080H2659H5844H8222H4617H4308But 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.H199H4390H3581H7307H3068H4941H1369H5046H3290H6588H3478H24039Listen to me, you leaders of Israel! You hate justice and twist all that is right.H8085H7218H1004H3290H7101H1004H3478H8581H4941H6140H347710You are building Jerusalem on a foundation of murder and corruption.H1129H6726H1818H3389H576611You 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.”H7218H8199H7810H3548H3384H4242H5030H7080H3701H8172H3068H559H3068H7130H7451H93512Because 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.H6726H1558H2790H7704H3389H5856H2022H1004H1116H3293