Mic 3 | ESV | STEP | And I said : Hear , you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel ! Is it not for you to know justice ?

‏ Micah 3

Rulers and Prophets Denounced

1 And I said:
^aHear, you heads of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel!
^bIs it not for you to know justice?—
2 you ^cwho hate the good and love the evil,
^dwho tear the skin from off my people ^{▼▼Hebrew from off them}
and their flesh from off their bones,
3 ^fwho eat the flesh of my people,
and flay their skin from off them,
and break their bones in pieces
and chop them up like meat in a pot,
like flesh in a cauldron.
4 ^gThen they will cry to the Lord,
but he will not answer them;
^hhe will hide his face from them at that time,
because they have made their deeds evil.
5 Thus says the Lord concerning ⁱthe prophets
who lead my people astray,
^jwho cry “Peace”
when they have something to eat,
but declare war against him
who puts nothing into their mouths.
6 Therefore ^kit shall be night to you, without vision,
and darkness to you, without divination.
^lThe sun shall go down on the prophets,
and the day shall be black over them;
7 ^mthe seers shall be disgraced,
and the diviners put to shame;
ⁿthey shall all cover their lips,
for ^othere is no answer from God.
8 But as for me, ^pI am filled with power,
with the Spirit of the Lord,
and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob ^qhis transgression
and to Israel his sin.
9 ^rHear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel,
^swho detest justice
and make crooked all that is straight,
10 ^twho build Zion with blood
and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11 ^uIts heads give judgment for a bribe;
^vits priests teach for a price;
^wits prophets practice divination for money;
^xyet they lean on the Lord and ^ysay,
“Is not the Lord in the midst of us?
^zNo disaster shall come upon us.”
12 Therefore because of you
^aaZion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem ^abshall become a heap of ruins,
and ^acthe mountain of the house ^ada wooded height.