Micah 3 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 Then I said, “Please listen, leaders of the descendants of Jacob, people of Israel. You are meant to know the difference between right and wrong,
1 I said, “Please listen, you heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: Isn’t it for you to know justice?
2 you who hate good and love evil! You tear off their skin, and rip the flesh from their bones.
2 You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones;
3 You eat the flesh of my people, you strip off their skin, you break their bones. You chop them up like meat for the saucepan, like flesh for the cooking pot.”
3 who also eat the flesh of my people, and peel their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as meat within the cauldron.
4 Then they'll cry out to the Lord, but he won't answer them. He will turn away from them at that time because of the evil things they have done.
4 Then they will cry to Yahweh, but he will not answer them. Yes, he will hide his face from them at that time, because they made their deeds evil.”
5 This is what the Lord says about the prophets who deceive my people. To those who feed them they prophesy peace to them, while to those who do not they prophesy war against them.
5 Yahweh says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray—for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, “Peace!” and whoever doesn’t provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him:
6 Therefore it will be like night for you, with no visions; dark, with no predictions. The sun will set on these prophets; their day will end in darkness.
6 “Therefore night is over you, with no vision, and it is dark to you, that you may not divine; and the sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will be black over them.
7 The seers will be disgraced, the fortune-tellers put to shame, and they will cover their faces because none of them receive any answer from God.
7 The seers shall be disappointed, and the diviners confounded. Yes, 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. I am filled with justice and strength to make clear to the descendants of Jacob their rebellion, and to the people of Israel their sin.
8 But as for me, I am full of power by Yahweh’s Spirit, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, and to Israel his sin.
9 Listen to me, leaders of the descendants of Jacob and the people of Israel, you who hate justice and distort all that is right.
9 Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity,
10 You are building Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with evil.
10 who build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11 Your leaders judge for a bribe, and your priests teach for a price, and your prophets only prophesy for pay. Yet they all lean on the Lord saying, “Isn't the Lord here with us? Nothing bad can happen to us!”
11 Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money; yet they lean on Yahweh, and say, “Isn’t Yahweh among us? No disaster will come on us.”
12 Therefore because of you Zion will become a plowed field and Jerusalem a heap of rubble, and the Temple mount will be overgrown.
12 Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest.
Cross references (12)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Psalm 82:1–5; Isaiah 1:10; Jeremiah 5:4–5; Hosea 5:1; 1 Corinthians 6:5
- 2 Ezekiel 22:27; Psalm 53:4; Proverbs 28:4; 1 Kings 21:20; 2 Chronicles 19:2
- 3 Psalm 14:4; Ezekiel 11:3; Ezekiel 11:6–7; Zephaniah 3:3
- 4 Isaiah 1:15; Proverbs 1:28; Ezekiel 8:18; Psalm 18:41; Deuteronomy 32:19–20
- 5 Jeremiah 14:14–15; Jeremiah 6:14; Ezekiel 22:25–29; Ezekiel 13:10–16; Jeremiah 23:32
- 6 Isaiah 8:20–22; Isaiah 29:10; Amos 8:9–10; Isaiah 59:10; Jeremiah 13:16
- 7 Isaiah 44:25; Zechariah 13:4; 1 Samuel 28:6; Amos 8:11; Leviticus 13:45
- 8 Isaiah 58:1; 1 Corinthians 2:12–13; 1 Corinthians 2:4; Isaiah 11:2–3; Acts 4:8–12
- 9 Isaiah 1:23; Psalm 58:1–2; Proverbs 17:15; Deuteronomy 27:19; Hosea 5:1
- 10 Habakkuk 2:9–12; Jeremiah 22:13–17; Matthew 27:25; Zephaniah 3:3; Ezekiel 22:25–28
- 11 Jeremiah 6:13; Isaiah 1:23; Micah 3:5; Titus 1:11; Jeremiah 7:4
- 12 Jeremiah 26:18; Psalm 79:1; Micah 4:1–2; Matthew 24:2; Psalm 107:34
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… declared when He said, "Fill ye up the measure of your fathers." For from the first the prophets used to charge them with these things, saying, "Your hands are full of blood;" and, "They mingle blood with blood;" and, "They build up Sion with blood." But they did not learn self-restraint, albeit they received this commandment first, "Thou shalt not …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
The city was still standing, and beautified with public places, and robed in majesty; yet he says, Zion shall be ploughed as a field, foretelling what is now fulfilled in our days.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
the Holy Ghost; as when Micah says in the person of God, surely I will perfect power by the Spirit the Lord; and Joel cries, And it shall come to pass afterwards, saith God, that I will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh, and the rest; and Haggai, Because I am with you, saith the Lord of Hosts; …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)