Micah 3

Rulers and Prophets Denounced

1  And I said:
a Hear, you heads of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel!
b Is it not for you to know justice?—
 2 you c who hate the good and love the evil,
d who tear the skin from off my people ▼
▼ Hebrew  from off them

and their flesh from off their bones,
 3  f 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  g Then they will cry to the  Lord,
but he will not answer them;
h he will hide his face from them at that time,
because they have made their deeds evil.
 5  Thus says the  Lord concerning i the prophets
who lead my people astray,
j who cry “Peace”
when they have something to eat,
but declare war against him
who puts nothing into their mouths.
 6 Therefore k it shall be night to you, without vision,
and darkness to you, without divination.
l The sun shall go down on the prophets,
and the day shall be black over them;
 7  m the seers shall be disgraced,
and the diviners put to shame;
n they shall all cover their lips,
for o there is no answer from God.
 8 But as for me p I am filled with power,
with the Spirit of the  Lord,
and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob q his transgression
and to Israel his sin.
 9  r Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel,
s who detest justice
and make crooked all that is straight,
 10  t who build Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with iniquity.
 11  u Its heads give judgment for a bribe;
v its priests teach for a price;
w its prophets practice divination for money;
x yet they lean on the  Lord and y say,
“Is not the  Lord in the midst of us?
z No disaster shall come upon us.”
 12 Therefore because of you
aa Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem ab shall become a heap of ruins,
and ac the mountain of the house ad a wooded height.
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