Micah 3:10-12

Context

3:10 You¹ build Zion through bloody crimes,²

Jerusalem³ through unjust violence.

3:11 Her⁴ 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 trust⁶ the Lord and say,

“The Lord is among us.⁷

Disaster will not overtake⁸ us!”

3:12 Therefore, because of you,⁹ Zion will be plowed up like¹⁰ a field,

Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,

and the Temple Mount¹¹ will become a hill overgrown with brush!¹²

[3:10] ¹tn Heb “who.”

[3:10] ²tn Heb “bloodshed” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NLT “murder.”

[3:11] ⁴sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).

[3:11] ⁵tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”

[3:11] ⁶tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”

[3:11] ⁷tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”

[3:11] ⁸tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”

[3:12] ⁹tn The plural pronoun refers to the leaders, priests, and prophets mentioned in the preceding verse.

[3:12] ¹⁰tn Or “into” (an adverbial accusative of result).

[3:12] ¹¹tn Heb “the mountain of the house” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).

[3:12] ¹²tn Heb “a high place of overgrowth.”