Micah 3
Berean Standard Bible · Compare translations · 735 BC – 701 BC · Judah alone · Tap a verse to copy, share or highlight ·
12 verses · 318 words · ~2 min read · ~2 min listen
Rulers and Prophets Condemned
1Then I said:
“Hear now, O leaders of Jacob,
you rulers of the house of Israel.
Should you not know justice?
2You hate good and love evil.
You tear the skin from my people
and strip the flesh from their bones.
3You eat the flesh of my people
after stripping off their skin
and breaking their bones.
You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot,
like meat in a cauldron.”
4Then they will cry out to the Lord,
but He will not answer them.
At that time He will hide His face from them
because of the evil they have done.
5This is what the Lord says:
“As for the prophets
who lead My people astray,
who proclaim peace
while they chew with their teeth,
but declare war against one
who puts nothing in their mouths:
6Therefore night will come over you without visions,
and darkness without divination.
The sun will set on these prophets,
and the daylight will turn black over them.
7Then the seers will be ashamed
and the diviners will be disgraced.
They will all cover their mouths
because there is no answer from God.”
8As for me, however, I am filled with power
by the Spirit of the Lord,
with justice and courage,
to declare to Jacob his transgression
and to Israel his sin.
9Now hear this, O leaders of the house of Jacob
and rulers of the house of Israel,
who despise justice
and pervert all that is right,
10who build Zion with bloodshed
and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11Her leaders judge for a bribe,
her priests teach for a price,
and her prophets practice divination for money.
Yet they lean upon the Lord, saying,
“Is not the Lord among us?
No disaster can come upon us.”
12Therefore, because of you,
Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,
and the temple mount a wooded ridge.
Study notes on this chapter · 1
Prophecy & fulfillmentWidely held reading
Zion plowed like a field
Micah says that because of its leaders' corruption, Zion will be plowed like a field and Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins. A century later, elders at Jeremiah's trial cite this prophecy and say that Hezekiah and the people repented, and the LORD relented. Babylon destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC.
When: Micah, c. 730–700 BC; Jeremiah's trial, c. 609 BC; fall of Jerusalem, 586 BC.
Original passageMicah 3:9–12
Where the New Testament applies it2 Kings 25:8–10
Echoed inJeremiah 26:17–19
Editorial note by BibleWay. Interpretations vary; dates are approximate scholarly estimates.