Micah 3:9-12

9 Hear this, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of Israel, who despise justice and distort all that is right;
10 who build Zion with bloodshed, and Jerusalem with wickedness.
11 Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets tell fortunes for money. Yet they look for the LORD’s support and say, “Is not the LORD among us? No disaster will come upon us.”
12 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.

Micah 3:9-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO MICAH 3

In this chapter the prophet reproves and threatens both princes and prophets, first separately, and then conjunctly; first the heads and princes of the people, civil magistrates, for their ignorance of justice, and hatred of good, and love of evil, and for their oppression and cruelty; and they are threatened with distress when they should cry unto the Lord, and should not be heard by him, Mic 3:1-4; next the prophets are taken to task, for their voraciousness, avarice, and false prophesying; and are threatened with darkness, with want of vision, and of an answer from the Lord, and with shame and confusion, Mic 3:5-7; and the prophet being full of the Spirit and power of God, to declare the sins and transgressions of Jacob and Israel, Mic 3:8, very freely declaims against princes, priests, and prophets, all together; who, though guilty of very notorious crimes, yet were in great security, and promised themselves impunity, Mic 3:9-11; wherefore the city and temple of Jerusalem are threatened with an utter desolation, Mic 3:12.

Cross References 12

  • 1. Psalms 58:1-2; S Isaiah 1:23
  • 2. S Jeremiah 22:13
  • 3. Isaiah 59:7; Micah 7:2; Nahum 3:1; Habakkuk 2:12
  • 4. Jeremiah 22:17; S Ezekiel 22:27
  • 5. S Exodus 23:8; S Leviticus 19:15; Malachi 2:9
  • 6. S Ezekiel 13:19
  • 7. Isaiah 1:23; S Isaiah 56:11; Jeremiah 6:13; S Lamentations 4:13; S Hosea 4:8,18
  • 8. S Isaiah 10:20
  • 9. Jeremiah 7:4; S Ezekiel 34:2
  • 10. S 2 Kings 25:9; S Isaiah 6:11; Jeremiah 26:18
  • 11. S Jeremiah 52:13
  • 12. S Leviticus 26:31; S Jeremiah 17:3; S Jeremiah 22:6; S Lamentations 5:18; S Ezekiel 5:14
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