Micah 3

¹ And I said:
Hear now, O heads of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel!
Is it not for you to know justice?

² You who hate good and love evil,
who tear the skin off my people
and their flesh from their bones,

³ who eat the flesh of my people
and flay their skin from them,
and break their bones in pieces
and chop them up like meat in a pot,
like flesh in a cauldron.

⁴ Then they will cry out to the LORD,
but he will not answer them.
He will hide his face from them at that time,
because they have made their deeds evil.

⁵ Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets
who lead my people astray,
who cry "Peace" when their teeth have something to bite,
but declare war against the one
who puts nothing in their mouths:

⁶ Therefore it will be night for you—without vision,
and darkness for you—without divination.
The sun will set on the prophets,
and the day will grow dark over them.

⁷ The seers will be put to shame,
and the diviners will be disgraced.
They will 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—
and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression
and to Israel his sin.

⁹ Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel,
who abhor justice
and make crooked all that is straight,

¹⁰ who build Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with injustice.

¹¹ Her heads give judgment for a bribe;
her priests teach for a price;
her prophets divine for silver.
Yet they lean on the LORD and say:
"Is not the LORD in our midst?
No disaster will come upon us."

¹² Therefore because of you
Zion will be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
and the mountain of the house
a wooded height.