Micah 3:1-8

God Will Judge Judah’s Sinful Leaders

3:1 I said,

“Listen, you leaders ¹  of Jacob,

you rulers of the nation ²  of Israel!

You ought to know what is just, ³ 

3:2 yet you ⁴  hate what is good, ⁵ 

and love what is evil. ⁶ 

You flay my people’s skin ⁷ 

and rip the flesh from their bones. ⁸ 

3:3 You ⁹  devour my people’s flesh,

strip off their skin,

and crush their bones.

You chop them up like flesh in a pot ¹⁰  –

like meat in a kettle.

3:4 Someday these sinners will cry to the Lord for help, ¹¹ 

but he will not answer them.

He will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have done such wicked deeds.”

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

are as good as dead. ¹² 

If someone gives them enough to eat,

they offer an oracle of peace. ¹³ 

But if someone does not give them food,

they are ready to declare war on him. ¹⁴ 

3:6 Therefore night will fall, and you will receive no visions; ¹⁵ 

it will grow dark, and you will no longer be able to read the omens. ¹⁶ 

The sun will set on these prophets,

and the daylight will turn to darkness over their heads. ¹⁷ 

3:7 The prophets ¹⁸  will be ashamed;

the omen readers will be humiliated.

All of them will cover their mouths, ¹⁹ 

for they will receive no divine oracles.” ²⁰ 

3:8 But I ²¹  am full of the courage that the Lord’s Spirit gives,

and have a strong commitment to justice. ²² 

This enables me to confront Jacob with its rebellion,

and Israel with its sin. ²³ 

[3:1]  ¹ tn Heb “heads.”

[3:1]  ² tn Heb “house.”

[3:1]  ³ tn Heb “Should you not know justice?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you should!”

[3:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “the ones who.”

[3:2]  ⁵ tn Or “good.”

[3:2]  ⁶ tn Or “evil.”

[3:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “their skin from upon them.” The referent of the pronoun (“my people,” referring to Jacob and/or the house of Israel, with the Lord as the speaker) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ⁸ tn Heb “and their flesh from their bones.”

[3:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “who.”

[3:3]  ¹⁰ tc The MT reads “and they chop up as in a pot.” The translation assumes an emendation of כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher, “as”) to כִּשְׁאֵר (kish’er, “like flesh”).

[3:4]  ¹¹ tn Heb “then they will cry out to the Lord.” The words “Someday these sinners” have been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:5]  ¹² 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).

[3:5]  ¹³ 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.

[3:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “but [as for the one] who does not place [food] in their mouths, they prepare for war against him.”

[3:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “it will be night for you without a vision.”

[3:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “it will be dark for you without divination.”

[3:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and the day will be dark over them.”

[3:7]  ¹⁸ tn Or “seers.”

[3:7]  ¹⁹ tn Or “the mustache,” or perhaps “the beard.” Cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV “cover their lips.”

[3:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “for there will be no answer from God.”

[3:8]  ²¹ sn The prophet Micah speaks here and contrasts himself with the mercenaries just denounced by the Lord in the preceding verses.

[3:8]  ²² tn Heb “am full of power, the Spirit of the Lord, and justice and strength.” The appositional phrase “the Spirit of the Lord” explains the source of the prophet’s power. The phrase “justice and strength” is understood here as a hendiadys, referring to the prophet’s strong sense of justice.

[3:8]  ²³ tn Heb “to declare to Jacob his rebellion and to Israel his sin.” The words “this enables me” are supplied in the translation for clarification.