Morning below Jerusalem: a freshly plowed terrace of dark earth with a wooden plow resting at the end of its furrow; the walled city and the temple stand high on the ridge beyond under a calm, pale sky.

Hear, you leaders

Micah 3

What do people receive from you when you have power over them?

12 verses≈ 3 minBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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Where we are

1–2Hear, you peoplesSamaria falls, Judah mourns, a remnant gathered
3–5Hear, you leadersZion plowed; then the mountain raised and a Ruler from BethlehemChapter 3
6–7Hear the LORD’s caseWhat He requires, and who is a God like Him

Rulers and Prophets Condemned

Micah

Morning in a Jerusalem gate passage: judges and officials in fine dyed wool sit on stone benches; a well-dressed man leans in to speak to one of them, while a poor farmer with empty hands waits apart.

Then I said:

“Hear now, O leaders of Jacob,

you rulers of the house of Israel.

Should you not know justice?

Tap to go deeper: meaning, history and related Scripture

Micah

You hate good and love evil.

You tear the skin from my people

and strip the flesh from their bones.

You eat the flesh of my people

after stripping off their skin

and breaking their bones.

You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot,

like meat in a cauldron.”

Micah

Reflect

Power over someone

Micah tells the powerful, “Should you not know justice?” Where do you have power over someone: a child, a worker, a customer? What do they receive from you?

God

God

This is what the LORD says:

“As for the prophets

who lead My people astray,

who proclaim peace

while they chew with their teeth,

but declare war against one

who puts nothing in their mouths:

God

Therefore night will come over you without visions,

and darkness without divination.

The sun will set on these prophets,

and the daylight will turn black over them.

Then the seers will be ashamed

and the diviners will be disgraced.

They will all cover their mouths

because there is no answer from God.”

Micah

As for me, however, I am filled with power

by the Spirit of the LORD,

with justice and courage,

to declare to Jacob his transgression

and to Israel his sin.

Micah 3:8

Micah

Now hear this, O leaders of the house of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel,

who despise justice

and pervert all that is right,

who build Zion with bloodshed

and Jerusalem with iniquity.

Micah

Close on a worn stone bench in a city gate: a small tied leather purse, a few rough silver rings slipping from it, set down beside a judge's folded hands; the busy gate a blur behind.

Her leaders judge for a bribe,

her priests teach for a price,

and her prophets practice divination for money.

Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying,

“Is not the LORD among us?

No disaster can come upon us.”

0:14

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Micah

A high ridge after a city's ruin: plowed furrows run across the slope among heaps of tumbled squared stones, and scrub oak and young trees grow over the summit; no one is there.

Therefore, because of you,

Zion will be plowed like a field,

Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,

and the temple mount a wooded ridge.

Question

Quick question

“Zion will be plowed like a field.” Jerusalem remembered these words for a long time.

A century later, who quoted verse 12 in Jerusalem?

You’ve experienced

Micah 3

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A verse to carry with you

As for me, however, I am filled with power by the Spirit of the LORD, with justice and courage, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.

Micah 3:8

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