Micah 3:1-12
1 And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?
2 Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;
3 Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.
4 Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.
5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.
6 Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.
7 Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips;a for there is no answer of God.
8 But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.
9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.
10 They build up Zion with blood,b and Jerusalem with iniquity.
11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say,c Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us.
12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.
Addressing himself directly to the rulers of the people, in this second message the prophet describes their peculiar sin, and announces the coming judgment. He then foretells the coming of the one true Ruler, and the consequent deliverance. In dealing with the sins of the rulers, he first addresses the heads or princes, charging them with being corrupt. As to character, they hate the good, and as to conduct they spoil the people.
Turning to the prophets, he declares that their sin is that they make the people to err, exercising their sacred office for their own welfare. If they were fed, they were prepared to cry peace; if they were not fed, they made war. Judgment must overtake them in kind. Micah defends his own ministry by contrasting it with others.
He finally deals with all the ruling classes and his summary of their sin is forceful. The heads judge for reward; the priests teach for hire; the prophets divine for money. As a result of their sin, judgment must fall on Zion and Jerusalem.