Micah, Chapter 3

1. I said: Listen, you rulers of Jacob, You chiefs of the House of Israel! For you ought to know what is right,    2. But you hate good and love evil.    3. You have devoured My people's flesh; You have flayed the skin off them, And their flesh off their bones. And after tearing their skins off them, And their flesh off their bones, And breaking their bones to bits, You have cut it up as into a pot, Like meat in a caldron.    4. Someday they shall cry out to the LORD, But He will not answer them; At that time He will hide His face from them, In accordance with the wrongs they have done.    5. Thus said the LORD to the prophets Who lead My people astray, Who cry "Peace!" When they have something to chew, But launch a war on him Who fails to fill their mouths:    6. Assuredly, It shall be night for you So that you cannot prophesy, And it shall be dark for you So that you cannot divine; The sun shall set on the prophets, And the day shall be darkened for them.    7. The seers shall be shamed And the diviners confounded; They shall cover their upper lips, Because no response comes from God.    8. But I, I am filled with strength by the spirit of the LORD, And with judgment and courage, To declare to Jacob his transgressions And to Israel his sin.    9. Hear this, you rulers of the House of Jacob, You chiefs of the House of Israel, Who detest justice And make crooked all that is straight,    10. Who build Zion with crime, Jerusalem with iniquity!    11. Her rulers judge for gifts, Her priests give rulings for a fee, And her prophets divine for pay; Yet they rely upon the LORD, saying, "The LORD is in our midst; No calamity shall overtake us."    12. Assuredly, because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field, And Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, And the Temple Mount A shrine in the woods.