Micah 3

New American Standard Bible

“^(A)Hear now, you ^[a]leaders of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel:
Is it not for you to ^(B)know justice?
² You who hate good and love evil,
Who ^(C)tear off their skin from them
And their flesh from their bones,
³ Who ^(D)eat the flesh of my people,
Strip off their skin from them,
Smash their bones,
And ^(E)chop them up as for the pot,
And as meat in a cauldron!”
⁴ Then they will ^(F)cry out to the Lord,
But He will not answer them.
Instead, He will ^(G)hide His face from them at that time
Because they have ^(H)practiced evil deeds.

When they have something to bite with their teeth,
They ^(J)cry out, “Peace!”
But against him who puts nothing in their mouths
They declare holy war.
⁶ Therefore it will be ^(K)night for you—without vision,
And darkness for you—without divination.
The ^(L)sun will go down on the prophets,
And the day will become dark over them.
⁷ The seers will be ^(M)put to shame,
And the ^(N)diviners will be ashamed.
Indeed, they will all ^(O)cover their ^[b]lips
Because there is ^(P)no answer from God.
⁸ On the other hand, ^(Q)I am filled with power—
With the Spirit of the Lord—
And with justice and courage
To ^(R)make known to Jacob his rebellious act,
And to Israel his sin.
⁹ Now hear this, you ^(S)heads of the house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who ^(T)despise justice
And twist everything that is straight,
¹⁰ Who ^(U)build Zion with bloodshed,
And Jerusalem with malice.
¹¹ Her leaders pronounce ^(V)judgment for a bribe,
Her ^(W)priests teach for pay,
And her prophets divine for money.
Yet they lean on the Lord, saying,
“^(X)Is the Lord not in our midst?
Catastrophe will not come upon us.”
¹² Therefore on account of you,
^(Y)Zion will be plowed like a field,
^(Z)Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
And the ^(AA)mountain of the ^[c]temple will become high places of a forest.