Micah begins a second oracle. In it he accuses the rulers, priests and prophets of Israel and Judah of greed, selling rulings and advice based on the bribe.
Then I said,
"Listen, you leaders of Jacob,
you rulers of the house of Israel.
Should you not know justice,
you who hate good and love evil;
who tear the skin from my people
and the flesh from their bones;
who eat my people's flesh,
strip off their skin
and break their bones in pieces;
who chop them up like meat for the pan,
like flesh for the pot?"
Then they will cry out to the LORD,
but he will not answer them.
At that time he will hide his face from them
because of the evil they have done.
The leaders of Judah and Israel so oppress the people that Micah compares them to cannibals. And so later, when the leaders cry out to God, He will not answer them.
This is what the LORD says:
"As for the prophets who lead my people astray,
if one feeds them, they proclaim `peace';
if he does not, they prepare to wage war against him.
Therefore night will come over you,
without visions, and darkness,
without divination.
The sun will set for the prophets,
and the day will go dark for them.
The seers will be ashamed
and the diviners disgraced.
They will all cover their faces
because there is no answer from God."
False prophets proclaim "peace!" to those who feed them. If some one does not feed them, the prophets attack him. And so eventually these false prophets will face darkness and lack of vision; they will be disgraced when God turns away.
As in chapter 2, Micah first accuses the community leaders of crimes and then follows with a condemnation of the prophets who support that in justice.
But as for me, I am filled with power,
with the Spirit of the LORD,
and with justice and might,
to declare to Jacob his transgression,
to Israel his sin.
With confidence and power, Micah interrupts his attack on the leaders, to insist that he, himself, is different. He is filled with the Spirit of God, ready to confront injustice in Israel. Like the autobiographical interlude in Amos 7:14-15, Micah has no choice; he must speak out and confront injustice.
Micah 3:9-12, Judge for a bribe
Hear this, you leaders of the house of Jacob,
you rulers of the house of Israel,
who despise justice and distort all that is right;
who build Zion with bloodshed,
and Jerusalem with wickedness.
Her leaders judge for a bribe,
her priests teach for a price,
and her prophets tell fortunes for money.
Yet they lean upon the LORD and say,
"Is not the LORD among us?
No disaster will come upon us."
Therefore because of you,
Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,
the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.
The leaders of Judah and Israel goes as far as to commit murder in their injustices. (Ahab killed Naboth in 1 Kings 21 and presumably many other such abuses occurred during the century of two after that.)
A parallel tricolon in verse 11 accuse three sets of oppressors. The leaders of Israel accept bribes to give corrupt decisions. The priests require money before they teach and the prophets will tell fortunes depending on the money they receive. Yet all, in hypocrisy, claim that they speak for God and that no disaster will come to Israel. But disaster is coming. Jerusalem will someday be mound of rubble, the temple destroyed and overgrown with brush.
A century later, when leaders of Jerusalem think about killing Jeremiah because of his prophesies, some elders stand up for Jeremiah and, in his defense, cite verse 12, above, describing Micah's statement and the fact that King Hezekiah had turned to seek God's favor as a result (Jeremiah 26:17-19.)
First published July 15, 2025; updated July 15, 2025
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