1 And 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? 2 Who hate the good, and love the evil; who rob their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones; 3 Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones; yea, they chop them in pieces, as that which is in the pot, and as flesh within the caldron. 4 Then shall they cry unto the LORD, 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. 5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people to err; that cry: 'Peace', when their teeth have any thing to bite; and whoso putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him: 6 Therefore 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. 7 And the seers shall be put to shame, and the diviners confounded; yea, they shall all cover their upper lips; for there shall be no answer of God. 8 But I truly am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of justice, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin. 9 Hear 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; 10 That build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. 11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money; yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say: 'Is not the LORD in the midst of us? No evil shall come upon us'? 12 Therefore 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.
Micah 3 JPS Tanakh (1917)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Numbers like (22-2) in the text give the Hebrew verse numbering where it differs.
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)