Micah 3
About MicahWritten by AI
Micah came from Moresheth, a small town in the hills of Judah, and preached in the late 700s BC, at the same time as Isaiah. He spoke to both Samaria in the north and Jerusalem in the south, warning that wealth gained by seizing fields and cheating neighbors would not escape God's notice.
The book moves back and forth between judgment and hope. Rulers, false prophets, and greedy landowners are confronted, but alongside the warnings come bright promises: nations streaming to God's house, swords beaten into plowshares, and a ruler born in little Bethlehem, a verse Matthew points to at Jesus' birth.
Watch for 6:8, one of the best known summaries of what God asks: “to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” The book ends with wonder at a God who pardons sin and delights in mercy.
Before you read Micah 3Written by AI
Micah addresses the leaders, judges, priests, and prophets who sell their services and twist justice. He describes their cruelty to the people in vivid, shocking images. Notice the contrast between prophets who preach for pay and Micah, filled with the Spirit's power. The chapter closes with a warning that Zion will be plowed like a field.
Rulers and Prophets Condemned
Then I said:
“Hear now, O leaders of Jacob,
you rulers of the house of Israel.
Should you not know justice?
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.”
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.
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:
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.”
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.
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.
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.”
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.