Micah 3:5

3:5 This is what the Lord says: “The prophets who mislead my people

are as good as dead. ¹ 

If someone gives them enough to eat,

they offer an oracle of peace. ² 

But if someone does not give them food,

they are ready to declare war on him. ³ 

Micah 3:11

3:11 Her ⁴  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ⁵ 

her priests proclaim rulings for profit,

and her prophets read omens for pay.

Yet they claim to trust ⁶  the Lord and say,

“The Lord is among us. ⁷ 

Disaster will not overtake ⁸  us!”

Micah 3:1

God Will Judge Judah’s Sinful Leaders

3:1 I said,

“Listen, you leaders ⁹  of Jacob,

you rulers of the nation ¹⁰  of Israel!

You ought to know what is just, ¹¹ 

Micah 1:6

1:6 “I will turn Samaria ¹²  into a heap of ruins in an open field –

vineyards will be planted there! ¹³ 

I will tumble ¹⁴  the rubble of her stone walls ¹⁵  down into the valley,

and tear down her fortifications to their foundations. ¹⁶ 

Jeremiah 6:13-14

6:13 “That is because, from the least important to the most important of them,

all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.

Prophets and priests alike,

all of them practice deceit.

6:14 They offer only superficial help

for the harm my people have suffered. ¹⁷ 

They say, ‘Everything will be all right!’

But everything is not all right! ¹⁸ 

Jeremiah 8:10-11

8:10 ¹⁹ So I will give their wives to other men

and their fields to new owners.

For from the least important to the most important of them,

all of them are greedy for dishonest gain.

Prophets and priests alike,

all practice deceit.

8:11 They offer only superficial help

for the hurt my dear people ²⁰  have suffered. ²¹ 

They say, “Everything will be all right!”

But everything is not all right! ²² 

Jeremiah 23:17

23:17 They continually say ²³  to those who reject what the Lord has said, ²⁴ 

‘Things will go well for you!’ ²⁵ 

They say to all those who follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts,

‘Nothing bad will happen to you!’

Romans 16:18

16:18 For these are the kind who do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites. By their smooth talk and flattery they deceive the minds ²⁶  of the naive.

Philippians 3:19

3:19 Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things. ²⁷ 

Philippians 3:2

3:2 Beware of the dogs, ²⁸  beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh! ²⁹ 

Philippians 2:13-19

2:13 for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort – for the sake of his good pleasure – is God. 2:14 Do everything without grumbling or arguing, 2:15 so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God without blemish though you live in a crooked and perverse society, in which you shine as lights in the world ³⁰  2:16 by holding on to ³¹  the word of life so that on the day of Christ I will have a reason to boast that I did not run in vain nor labor in vain. 2:17 But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice together with all of you. 2:18 And in the same way you also should be glad and rejoice together with me.

Models for Ministry

2:19 Now I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be encouraged by hearing news about you.

¹ tn Heb “concerning the prophets, those who mislead my people.” The first person pronominal suffix is awkward in a quotation formula that introduces the words of the Lord. For this reason some prefer to begin the quotation after “the Lord says” (cf. NIV), but this leaves “concerning the prophets” hanging very awkwardly at the beginning of the quotation. It is preferable to add הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) at the beginning of the quotation, right after the graphically similar יְהוָה (yÿhvah; see D. R. Hillers, Micah [Hermeneia], 44). The phrase הוֹי עַל (hoy ’al, “woe upon”) occurs in Jer 50:27 and Ezek 13:3 (with “the prophets” following the preposition in the latter instance).

² tn Heb “those who bite with their teeth and cry out, ‘peace.’” The phrase “bite with the teeth” is taken here as idiomatic for eating. Apparently these prophets were driven by mercenary motives. If they were paid well, they gave positive oracles to their clients, but if someone could not afford to pay them, they were hostile and delivered oracles of doom.

³ tn Heb “but [as for the one] who does not place [food] in their mouths, they prepare for war against him.”

⁴ sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).

⁵ tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”

⁶ tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”

⁷ tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”

⁸ tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”

⁹ tn Heb “heads.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “house.”

¹¹ tn Heb “Should you not know justice?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you should!”

¹² map For location see Map2-B1; Map4-D3; Map5-E2; Map6-A4; Map7-C1.

¹³ tn Heb “into a planting place for vineyards.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “pour” (so NASB, NIV); KJV, NRSV “pour down”; NAB “throw down”; NLT “roll.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “her stones.” The term stones is a metonymy for the city walls whose foundations were constructed of stone masonry.

¹⁶ tn Heb “I will uncover her foundations.” The term “foundations” refers to the lower courses of the stones of the city’s outer fortification walls.

¹⁷ tn Heb “They heal [= bandage] the wound of my people lightly”; TEV “They act as if my people’s wounds were only scratches.”

¹⁸ tn Heb “They say, ‘Peace! Peace!’ and there is no peace!”

¹⁹ sn See Jer 6:12-15 for parallels to 8:10-12. The words of Jeremiah to the people may have been repeated on more than one occasion or have been found appropriate to more than one of his collection of messages in written and edited form. See Jer 36:4 and Jer 36:28 for reference to at least two of these collections.

²⁰ tn Heb “daughter of my people.” For the translation given here see 4:11 and the note on the phrase “dear people” there.

²¹ tn Heb “They heal the wound of my people lightly.”

²² tn Heb “They say, ‘Peace! Peace!’ and there is no peace!”

²³ tn The translation reflects an emphatic construction where the infinitive absolute follows a participle (cf. GKC 343 §113.r).

²⁴ tc The translation follows the Greek version. The Hebrew text reads, “who reject me, ‘The Lord has spoken, “Things…”’” The Greek version is to be preferred here because of (1) the parallelism of the lines “reject what the Lord has said” // “follow the stubborn inclinations of their own hearts;” (2) the preceding context which speaks of “visions of their own imaginations not of what the Lord has given them;” (3) the following context which denies that they have ever had access to the Lord’s secrets; (4) the general contexts earlier regarding false prophecy where rejection of the Lord’s word is in view (6:14 [see there v. 10]; 8:11 [see there v. 9]); (5) the meter of the poetic lines (the Hebrew meter is 3/5/4/3; the meter presupposed by the translation is 5/3/4/3 with the 3’s being their words). The difference is one of vocalization of the same consonants. The vocalization of the MT is יְהוָה מְנַאֲצַי דִּבֶּר [mÿna’atsay dibber yÿhvah]; the Hebrew Vorlage behind the Greek would be vocalized as מְנַאֲצֵי דְּבַר יְהוָה (mÿna’atsey dÿvar yÿhvah).

²⁵ tn Heb “You will have peace.” But see the note on 14:13. See also 6:14 and 8:11.

²⁶ tn Grk “hearts.”

²⁷ tn Grk “whose end is destruction, whose god is the belly and glory is their shame, these who think of earthly things.”

²⁸ sn Dogs is a figurative reference to false teachers whom Paul regards as just as filthy as dogs.

²⁹ tn Grk “beware of the mutilation.”

³⁰ tn Or “as stars in the universe.”

³¹ tn Or “holding out, holding forth.”