Micah 3:2-3

Context

3:2 yet you¹ hate what is good,²

and love what is evil.³

You flay my people’s skin⁴

and rip the flesh from their bones.⁵

3:3 You⁶ devour my people’s flesh,

strip off their skin,

and crush their bones.

You chop them up like flesh in a pot⁷ –

like meat in a kettle.

Micah 3:9-11

Context

3:9 Listen to this, you leaders of the family⁸ of Jacob,

you rulers of the nation⁹ of Israel!

You¹⁰ hate justice

and pervert all that is right.

3:10 You¹¹ build Zion through bloody crimes,¹²

Jerusalem¹³ through unjust violence.

3:11 Her¹⁴ leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases,¹⁵

her priests proclaim rulings for profit,

and her prophets read omens for pay.

Yet they claim to trust¹⁶ the Lord and say,

“The Lord is among us.¹⁷

Disaster will not overtake¹⁸ us!”

[3:2] ¹tn Heb “the ones who.”

[3:2] ²tn Or “good.”

[3:2] ³tn Or “evil.”

[3:2] ⁴tn 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] ⁵tn Heb “and their flesh from their bones.”

[3:3] ⁶tn Heb “who.”

[3:3] ⁷tc 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”).

[3:9] ⁸tn Heb “house.”

[3:9] ⁹tn Heb “house.”

[3:9] ¹⁰tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons (also at the beginning of v. 10).

[3:10] ¹¹tn Heb “who.”

[3:10] ¹²tn Heb “bloodshed” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NLT “murder.”

[3:10] ¹³map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:11] ¹⁴sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).

[3:11] ¹⁵tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”

[3:11] ¹⁶tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”

[3:11] ¹⁷tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”

[3:11] ¹⁸tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”