미가 3

Rulers who hate good

¹And I said: Listen, you leaders of Jacob, \q you rulers of Israel’s house! \q Should you not know what justice is? ²You who hate good and love evil, \q who tear the skin off my people \q and the flesh off their bones, ³who eat the flesh of my people, \q strip off their skin, \q break their bones, \q and chop them up like meat for the pot, \q like flesh in a cooking kettle. ⁴Then they will call to the LORD for help, \q but he will give them no answer. \q When that time comes he will hide his face from them, \q for their deeds have been evil.

Prophets who lead the people astray

⁵The LORD says this \q about the prophets who lead my people astray, \q who cry, “Peace!” when they have something to bite with their teeth, \q but against anyone who puts nothing into their mouths \q they declare a holy war. ⁶Therefore night will come on you, with no vision, \q and darkness, with no divination. \q The sun will set on the prophets, \q and the day will turn black over them. ⁷The seers will be put to shame and the diviners disgraced; \q they will all cover their faces, \q because there is no answer from God. ⁸But I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, \q with justice and strength, \q to tell Jacob of his rebellion \q and Israel of his sin.

Zion will be plowed as a field

⁹Listen to this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, \q you rulers of the house of Israel, \q who hate justice \q and twist everything that is right, ¹⁰who build Zion with bloodshed \q and Jerusalem with wrongdoing. ¹¹Her leaders give judgment for a bribe, her priests teach for pay, \q and her prophets tell fortunes for money. \q Yet they lean on the LORD and say, \q “Is not the LORD among us? \q No disaster will come upon us.” ¹²Therefore, because of you, \q Zion will be plowed as a field, \q Jerusalem will be a mound of ruins, \q and the mountain of the temple a wooded height.