Micah 3

Rulers and Prophets Denounced 1And I said:
Hear, you heads of Jacob
   and rulers of the house of Israel!
Is it not for you to know justice?— 2   you who hate the good and love the evil,
who tear the skin from off my peopleHebrew from off them
   and their flesh from off their bones, 3who 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.

4Then they will cry 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.

5Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets
   who lead my people astray,
who cry "Peace"
   when they have something to eat,
but declare war against him
   who puts nothing into their mouths. 6Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision,
   and darkness to you, without divination.
The sun shall go down on the prophets,
   and the day shall be black over them; 7the seers shall be disgraced,
   and the diviners put to shame;
they shall all cover their lips,
   for there is no answer from God. 8But 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.

9Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob
   and rulers of the house of Israel,
who detest justice
   and make crooked all that is straight, 10who build Zion with blood
   and Jerusalem with iniquity. 11Its heads give judgment for a bribe;
   its priests teach for a price;
   its prophets practice divination for money;
yet they lean on the LORD and say,
   "Is not the LORD in the midst of us?
   No disaster shall come upon us." 12Therefore because of you
   Zion shall be plowed as a field;
Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,
   and the mountain of the house a wooded height.