Micah 3

1And I said, Hear, I pray you, ye heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: is it not for you to know justice?

1Then I said, 'Listen, leader of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel: Should you not be the ones who understand justice?'

2ye who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;

2Instead, you hate what is good and love what is evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh right off their bones.

3who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.

3You eat my people’s flesh, strip off their skin, break their bones, and chop them into pieces like meat for a cooking pot or a cauldron.

4Then shall they cry unto Jehovah, but he will not answer them; yea, he will hide his face from them at that time, according as they have wrought evil in their doings.

4Then you will cry out to the LORD, but he will not answer you. He will hide his face from you at that time because of the evil things you have done.

5Thus saith Jehovah concerning the prophets that make my people to err; that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and whoso putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him:

5This is what the LORD says about the prophets who lead my people astray: 'If someone feeds them, they promise peace; but if someone doesn't put food in their mouths, they declare war against them.'

6Therefore it shall be night unto you, that ye shall have no vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be black over them.

6'Therefore, night will fall on you so you will have no more visions. Darkness will cover you so you cannot tell the future. The sun will set on these prophets, and the day will turn black for them.'

7And the seers shall be put to shame, and the diviners confounded; yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.

7The seers will be ashamed and the fortune-tellers will be disgraced. They will all cover their faces because there is no answer from God.

8But as for me, I am full of power by the Spirit of Jehovah, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.

8But as for me, I am filled with power by the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and strength, to tell the people of Jacob how they have rebelled and to show Israel their sin.

9Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, that abhor justice, and pervert all equity.

9Listen to this, you leaders of the house of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel, who hate justice and twist everything that is right.

10They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

10You build Zion with the blood of the innocent and Jerusalem with wickedness.

11The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet they lean upon Jehovah, and say, Is not Jehovah in the midst of us? no evil shall come upon us.

11Her leaders give judgments only for a bribe, her priests teach only for pay, and her prophets tell the future for money. Yet they claim to depend on the LORD, saying, 'Isn't the LORD here with us? No disaster will happen to us.'

12Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

12Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, and the temple mountain will be overgrown like a forest hill.