Micahchapter 3
12 verses · Micah · 750 to 686 BC · The Twelve
Key verse
And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?
It stands in Rulers who tear the skin off my people, verses 1 to 4.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The leadership chapter, and the language is butchery: rulers who hate the good and love the evil, who pluck the skin off God's people and their flesh from off their bones and chop them up as for the pot. Then they will cry to Jehovah and he will not answer. Prophets who cry 'Peace' when they are fed, and declare war on whoever fails to fill their mouths, will get night without vision. Over against them Micah plants his flag: 'as for me, I am full of power by the Spirit of Jehovah… to declare unto Jacob his transgression' (3:8). So 'Zion for your sake shall be plowed as a field', quoted a century later at Jeremiah's trial.
Context
Prophecy · Micah · Micah overview
The world behind this chapter
Micah 3The history
The butchery image in the opening is deliberately unbearable, and it is drawn from a kitchen. Tearing the skin off, stripping flesh from the bones, breaking the bones in pieces, and chopping them up like meat for the pot describes preparing a carcass for a stew. Micah says this is what the leaders are doing to the people they govern.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
Paid prophecy was an ordinary profession across the region. A seer was consulted for a fee, and Micah's charge is that the fee decided the message: they cry peace when they have something to eat, and declare war against whoever puts nothing in their mouths. The market was setting the oracle.
The three offices named, rulers who judge for a bribe, priests who teach for a price, prophets who divine for money, cover the whole leadership of the nation. And each of them leaned on the same sentence: is not the LORD among us? No disaster shall come upon us. The temple's presence was being used as an insurance policy.
Micah's own credential is stated in contrast: I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the LORD, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression. He is not claiming a technique. He is claiming a source.
What it meant to them
The final sentence, Zion shall be plowed as a field, Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the temple mount a wooded height, was unthinkable to hearers who believed the city could not fall while the house of God stood in it.
This is one of the few Old Testament sermons whose effect is recorded. A century later, when Jeremiah was on trial for his life for saying the same thing, elders stood up and quoted this verse, naming Micah and Hezekiah, and argued that Hezekiah had feared the LORD and God relented. The quotation saved Jeremiah's life.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Old Testament: The Minor Prophets
Where the chapter sits
Micah 3 falls in Three judgment-and-hope cycles (chapters 1–7). Judgment on Samaria and Jerusalem (1–2); hope of the latter-day mountain (4); Bethlehem and the Ruler out of her (5); the LORD's controversy and ‘what doth the LORD require’ (6); hope closing with ‘who is a God like unto thee?’ (7).
The whole shape of Micah→The structure of this chapter
People1
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. Rulers who tear the skin off my people
1. (vv. 1-3)
Micah 3:1
“And I said - God’s love for us is the great incitement, constrainer, vivifier of His creature’s love. Micah had just spoken of God’s love of Israel; how He would gather them into one fold under One Shepherd, guard them, lead them, remove all difficulties before them, be Himself their Head and enable them to follow Him. He turns then to them. These are God’s doings; this, God has in store for you hereafter. Even when mercy itself shall require chastisement, He doth not cast off forever. The desolation is but the forerunner of future mercy. What then do ye?”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Micah 3:1
"Is it not for you to know judgment? Yes, it is; therefore stand still, and hear your own judgment, and judge if it be not right, whether any thing can be objected against it." 2. How wretchedly they had transgressed the rules of judgment, though they knew what they were.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Micah 3:2
“Who hate the good and love the evil - that is, they hate, for its own sake, that which is good, and love that which is evil.”
2 more voices on this verse
Micah 3:2
“Who hate the good, and love the evil,....”
Micah 3:2
“The good - Ye who hate not only to do good, but the good which is done, and those that do it. The evil - Chuse, and delight in, both evil works and evil workers.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Micah 3:3
“Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skins from off them,.... Like cannibals, flay them alive, and then eat their flesh: this signifies, as before, devouring their substance, only expressed in terms which still more set forth their savageness, inhumanity, barbarity, and cruelty.”
Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob: Micah turns from prophets and land-grabbers to the nation's judges themselves, heads of Jacob and princes of the house of Israel whose very office is to know judgment, to weigh right and wrong for the people. Verses 2 and 3 answer the question with an image of cannibalism, plucking skin from off my people, flaying their flesh, breaking their bones and chopping them as for the pot, the commentators reading this not as literal butchery but as legal and economic oppression described in the most visceral terms available. The horror of the figure is deliberate, judges who should protect the vulnerable instead consuming them.
2. (v. 4)
Micah 3:4
“Their prayer shall be rejected, because it is the mere cry of nature for deliverance from pain, not that of repentance for deliverance from sin. ill in their doings--Men cannot expect to do ill and fare well.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
Micah 3:4
“Then shall they cry - When calamity comes upon these oppressors, they shall cry for deliverance: but they shall not be heard; because, in their unjust exactions upon the people, they went on ruthlessly, and would not hear the cry of the oppressed.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Then shall they cry unto the Lord: The judgment answers the crime in kind: the judges who refused to hear the cries of those they oppressed will themselves cry to the Lord and not be heard, his face hidden from them exactly as they hid theirs from justice. The commentators name the principle as the same measure-for-measure law the whole book applies elsewhere, the doings that caused the silence now causing a silence of their own. It is behaviour, not mere fate, that the verse names as the cause.
B. Prophets who cry peace when fed: but I am full of power
1. (vv. 5-7)
Micah 3:5
"They make them to err by crying peace, by telling them that they do well, and that all shall be well with them; whereas they are in the paths of sin, and within a step of ruin. They cry peace, but they bite with their teeth, " which perhaps is meant of their biting their own lips, as we are apt to do when we would suppress something which we are ready to speak.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 more voice on this verse
Micah 3:5
“The prophets that make My people err - Flattering them in their sins and rebellions, promising that they shall go unpunished, that God is not so strict, will not put in force the judgments tie threatens. So Isaiah saith Isa 3:12; O my? people, they which lead thee, mislead thee; and (Isa 9:16, (Isa 9:15 in Hebrew)), the leaders of this people are its misleaders, and they that are led of them are destroyed.”
Micah 3:6
“Night shall be unto you - Ye shall have no spiritual light, nor will God give you any revelation of his will. The sun shall go down over the prophets - They prospered for a while, causing the people to err; but they shall also be carried into captivity, and then the sun of their prosperity shall go down for ever, and the very day that gives light and comfort to others, shall be darkness and calamity to them.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Micah 3:7
“They shall cover their lips - Literally, the hair of the upper lip . This was an action enjoined on lepers Lev 13:45, and a token of mourning Eze 24:17, Eze 24:22; a token then of sorrow and uncleanness. With their lips they had lied, and now they should cover their lips, as men dumb and ashamed. “For there is no answer of God,” as these deceivers had pretended to have. When all things shall come contrary to what they had promised, it shall be clear that God did not send them.”
prophets that make my people err: The target shifts to prophets who sell their message, crying peace to whoever feeds them and preparing war, a hostile oracle, against whoever will not, a corruption of the prophetic office paralleling the corrupt judges just named. Verses 6 and 7 answer with darkness as the fitting judgment, night instead of vision, no divination, the sun going down at noon over the prophets, seers and diviners ashamed and covering their lips because there is no answer of God. The commentators read the silencing as literal, these men's gift for hire taken from them, not merely their reputation.
2. (v. 8)
Micah 3:8
“If, further, one works through the twelve minor prophets, many testimonies to the Holy Spirit are to be found. Thus Micah speaks as God's mouthpiece and says, "Truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord." Joel cries, " 'And it shall come to pass afterwards,' says God, 'that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh' " and what follows.”
Cyril of Jerusalem· written before 386· Catechetical Lecture 15:29patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Micah 3:8
“But - I am full of power - Here is the character of the true prophet. He is filled, all his soul is occupied with power, כח coach, with heavenly energy; by the Spirit of the Lord, the fountain of all truth and might; and of judgment, which enables him to make a proper discernment between the precious and the vile; and of might, גבורה geburah, prevalent power, against which vice shall not be able to prevail, and before which iniquity shall not be able to stand: but all shall fall together, and be confounded.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Micah 3:8
“Or, "judgment" to discern between graver and lighter offenses, and to denounce punishments accordingly [GROTIUS]. might--moral intrepidity in speaking the truth at all costs (2Ti 1:7). to declare unto Jacob his . . . sin-- (Isa 58:1). Not to flatter the sinner as the false prophets do with promises of peace.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
I am full of power by the spirit of the Lord: Micah sets himself against the prophets just condemned in the sharpest contrast the chapter offers, full of power by the spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin, exactly the message the hired prophets refused to speak. The commentators read the verse as Micah's own credential, his authority resting on the Spirit rather than on payment, the true mark distinguishing him from the men of verse 5. He names sin plainly where they cried peace falsely.
C. Zion plowed like a field on their account
1. (vv. 9-11)
Micah 3:9
“Hear this, I pray you - The prophet discharges upon them that “judgment” whereof, by the Spirit of God, he was full, and which they “abhorred; judgment” against their perversion of judgment. He rebukes the same classes as before “the heads and judges” Mic 3:1, yet still more sternly.”
1 more voice on this verse
Micah 3:9
“Hear--resumed from Mic 3:1. Here begins the leading subject of the prophecy: a demonstration of his assertion that he is "full of power by the Spirit of Jehovah" (Mic 3:8).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Micah 3:10
“They build up Zion with blood - They might cry out loudly against that butchery practiced by Pekah, king of Israel, and Pul coadjutor of Rezie, against the Jews. See on Mic 2:9 (note). But these were by no means clear themselves; for if they strengthened the city, or decorated the temple, it was by the produce of their exactions and oppressions of the people.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Micah 3:10
“They - The heads and great ones enlarge, beautify, and fortify, the house in Zion, particularly the temple and the royal palace. Blood - With wealth, which they made themselves masters of by violence, taking away the life of the owners.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Micah 3:11
“The heads thereof judge for reward - Every class was corrupted. One sin, the root of all evil 1Ti 6:10, covetousness, entered into all they did. It, not God, was their one end, and so their God.”
1 more voice on this verse
Micah 3:11
“The Apostle Paul: Those who serve the altar, he says, partake of the altar and live by it (1 Corinthians 9:13). It is permitted for you, O priest, to live by the altar, not to indulge in luxury. The mouth of the ox that treads out the grain is not muzzled (ibid., 9). We know these things, and yet the Apostle does not abuse this permission: he is content with food and clothing. He labors night and day with his own hands so as not to be a burden to anyone.”
Jerome· written before 420· Commentary on Micahpatristic
Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob: The chapter's third indictment gathers heads, priests and prophets together, judging for reward, teaching for hire, divining for money, three offices meant to serve the people now serving only themselves. Verse 10 states the plainest charge in the shortest sentence in the chapter, they build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity, the holy city's very construction funded by injustice. Verse 11 exposes the self-deception underneath it, corrupt leaders who still lean upon the Lord and ask is not the Lord among us, none evil can come upon us, presuming on God's presence while defying everything his presence requires.
2. (v. 12)
Micah 3:12
Hence again the divine Micah was unable to brook the building of Zion with blood, however you interpret the phrase, and of Jerusalem with iniquity. Meanwhile, these heads of the house of Jacob abhorred justice. The priests were teaching for hire. The prophets were prophesying for money! What does Micah say will be the result of this? "Zion shall be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a storehouse of fruit, and the mountain of the house shall be as the grove of the forest."
Gregory of Nazianzus· written before 390· IN DEFENSE OF HIS FLIGHT TO PONTUS, ORATION 2:58patristic
2 more voices on this verse
Micah 3:12
“Therefore shall Zion - be ploughed as a field - It shall undergo a variety of reverses and sackages, till at last there shall not be one stone left on the top of another, that shall not be pulled down; and then a plough shall be drawn along the site of the walls, to signify an irreparable and endless destruction. Of this ancient custom Horace speaks, Odar. lib. i., Od. 16, ver.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Micah 3:12
“For your sake - Because of your sins. The mountain - The mountain, on which the temple stood. This is that passage, which is quoted, Jer. xxvi, 18, which Hezekiah and his princes took well: yea, they repented and so the execution of it did not come in their days.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Zion for your sake be plowed as a field: The chapter's sentence is the harshest word Zion ever heard from a true prophet, Zion for your sake plowed as a field, Jerusalem heaps, the mountain of the house, the temple mount itself, reduced to the high places of the forest. A century later this exact verse saved a prophet's life: Jeremiah 26:18 quotes it word for word, naming Micah by name and recalling that Hezekiah heard it, feared the Lord, and the Lord repented of the evil pronounced, the precedent the elders cite to spare Jeremiah from the same charge of treason. The commentators mark the irony, Micah's threat of the temple's destruction preserved Jeremiah's life a century before it preserved nothing of the temple itself in 586 BC.
This page carries no textual note on Micah 3. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.