The Tanakh · JPS 1917 Translation

Micah 3

Jewish Publication Society 1917 · Nevi'im — the Prophets

Micah chapter 3 — part of the Nevi'im — the Prophets in the Jewish Bible. In the classic JPS 1917 translation it opens: “And I said: Hear, I pray you, ye heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: is it not for you to know justice?” — the complete text of all 12 verses is below, free to read online.

1And I said: Hear, I pray you, ye heads of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel: is it not for you to know justice?

2Who hate the good, and love the evil; who rob their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;

3Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones; yea, they chop them in pieces, as that which is in the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.

4Then shall they cry unto HaShem, but He will not answer them; yea, He will hide His face from them at that time, according as they have wrought evil in their doings.

5Thus saith HaShem concerning the prophets that make my people to err; that cry: 'Peace', when their teeth have any thing to bite; and whoso putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him:

6Therefore it shall be night unto you, that ye shall have no vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be black over them.

7And the seers shall be put to shame, and the diviners confounded; yea, they shall all cover their upper lips; for there shall be no answer of G-d.

8But I truly am full of power by the spirit of HaShem, and of justice, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.

9Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the house of Israel, that abhor justice, and pervert all equity;

10That build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

11The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money; yet will they lean upon HaShem, and say: 'Is not HaShem in the midst of us? No evil shall come upon us'?

12Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of a forest.

12 verses · JPS 1917 (public domain)

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