2 Ye who hate the good, and love evil; who pluck off their skin from them, and their flesh from off their bones;
Her princes in the midst of her are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain.
Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, eating up my people [as] they eat bread? they call not upon God.
But his citizens hated him, and sent an embassy after him, saying, We will not that this [man] should reign over us.
without natural affection, implacable, slanderers, of unsubdued passions, savage, having no love for what is good,
who knowing the righteous judgment of God, that they who do such things are worthy of death, not only practise them, but have fellow delight in those who do [them].
O stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, *ye* do always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers, *ye* also. Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? and they have slain those who announced beforehand concerning the coming of the Just One, of whom *ye* have now become deliverers up and murderers!
He that hates me hates also my Father. If I had not done among them the works which no other one has done, they had not had sin; but now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father.
If the world hate you, know that it has hated me before you. If ye were of the world, the world would love its own; but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, on account of this the world hates you.
And Ahab said to Elijah, Hast thou found me, mine enemy? And he said, I have found [thee]; because thou hast sold thyself to do evil in the sight of Jehovah.
Thus saith Jehovah my God: Feed the flock of slaughter, whose possessors slay them without being held guilty; and they that sell them say, Blessed be Jehovah! for I am become rich; and their own shepherds pity them not.
Hear this, ye that pant after the needy, even to cause to fail the poor of the land, saying, When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell corn? and the sabbath, that we may set forth wheat? making the ephah small and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances for deceit: that we may buy the poor for silver, and the needy for a pair of shoes; and that we may sell the refuse of the wheat.
They hate him that reproveth in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly. Forasmuch, therefore, as ye trample upon the poor, and take from him presents of wheat: ye have built houses of hewn stone, but ye shall not dwell in them; ye have planted pleasant vineyards, and ye shall not drink the wine of them. For I know how manifold are your transgressions and your sins mighty: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside [the right of] the needy in the gate. Therefore the prudent shall keep silence in this time; for it is an evil time. Seek good, and not evil, that ye may live; and so Jehovah, the God of hosts, shall be with you, as ye say.
They that forsake the law praise the wicked; but such as keep the law contend with them.
Do not I hate them, O Jehovah, that hate thee? and do not I loathe them that rise up against thee? I hate them with perfect hatred; I account them mine enemies.
And Jehu the son of Hanani, the seer, went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Shouldest thou help the ungodly, and love them that hate Jehovah? Therefore is wrath upon thee from Jehovah.
And the king of Israel assembled the prophets, about four hundred men, and said to them, Shall I go against Ramoth-Gilead to battle, or shall I forbear? And they said, Go up, and the Lord will give it into the king's hand. But Jehoshaphat said, Is there not here a prophet of Jehovah besides, that we might inquire of him? And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of Jehovah; but I hate him, for he prophesies no good concerning me, but evil: [it is] Micah the son of Imlah. And Jehoshaphat said, Let not the king say so.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Micah 3
Commentary on Micah 3 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 3
What the apostle says of another of the prophets is true of this, who was also his contemporary-"Esaias is very bold,' Rom. 10:20. So, in this chapter, Micah is very bold in reproving and threatening the great men that were the ringleaders in sin; and he gives the reason (v. 8) why he was so bold, because he had commission and instruction from God to say what he said, and was carried out in it by a higher spirit and power than his own. Magistracy and ministry are two great ordinances of God, for good to his church, but these were both corrupted and the intentions of them perverted; and upon those that abused them, and so abused the church with them, the prophet is very severe, and justly so.
Mic 3:1-7
Princes and prophets, when they faithfully discharge the duty of their office, are to be highly honoured above other men; but when they betray their trust, and act contrary to it, they should hear of their faults as well as others, and shall be made to know that there is a God above them, to whom they are accountable; at his bar the prophet here, in his name, arraigns them.
Mic 3:8-12
Here,