Micheas

Chapter 3

For the sins of the rich oppressing the poor, ℣.5 of false Prophets flattering for lucre, ℣.9 and of judges perverting justice, ℣.12 Jerusalem and the temple shall be destroyed.

1
And I said: Hear ye Princes of Jacob, and ye dukes of the house of Israel: Why, is it not your part to know judgement,
2
which hate good, and love evil: which violently take away their skins from them, and their flesh from their bones?
3
Which have eaten the flesh of my people, and have flead their skin from them: and have broken, and cut their bones as in a kettle, and as it were flesh in the midst of a pot.
4
shall they cry to our Lord, and he will not hear them: and he will hide his face from them at that time, as they have done wickedly in their inventions.
5
Thus saith our Lord upon the Prophets, that seduce my people: that bite with their teeth, and preach peace: and if a man give not something in their mouth, they sanctify battle upon him.
6
Therefore there shall be night to you for vision, and darkness to you for divination: and the sun shall go down upon the Prophets, and the day shall be darkened over them.
7
And they shall be confounded that see visions, and the diviners shall be confounded: and all shall cover their faces, because there is no answer of God.
8
But yet I am replenished with the strength of the spirit of our Lord, with judgement, & power: to declare unto Jacob his wickedness, and to Israel his sin.
9
Hear this ye princes of the house of Jacob, and ye judges of the house of Israel: which abhor judgement, and pervert all right things.
10
Which build Sion in blood, and Jerusalem in iniquity.
11
Her Princes judged for gifts, and her Priests taught for wages, and her Prophets divined for money: and they rested upon our Lord, saying: Why, is not our Lord in the midst of us? Evils shall not come upon us.
12
For this, because of you, Sion shall be ploughed as a field, & Jerusalem be as an heap of stones, and the mount of the temple as the high places of forests.