Mikha 3:10-11

3:10 You ¹  build Zion through bloody crimes, ² 

Jerusalem ³  through unjust violence.

3:11 Her ⁴  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ⁵ 

her priests proclaim rulings for profit,

and her prophets read omens for pay.

Yet they claim to trust ⁶  the Lord and say,

“The Lord is among us. ⁷ 

Disaster will not overtake ⁸  us!”

Mikha 7:2-3

7:2 Faithful men have disappeared ⁹  from the land;

there are no godly men left. ¹⁰ 

They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood; ¹¹ 

they hunt their own brother with a net. ¹² 

7:3 They are determined to be experts at doing evil; ¹³ 

government officials and judges take bribes, ¹⁴ 

prominent men make demands,

and they all do what is necessary to satisfy them. ¹⁵ 

[3:10]  ¹ tn Heb “who.”

[3:10]  ² tn Heb “bloodshed” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NLT “murder.”

[3:10]  ³ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[3:11]  ⁴ sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).

[3:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”

[3:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”

[3:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”

[3:11]  ⁸ tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”

[7:2]  ⁹ tn Or “have perished”; “have been destroyed.”

[7:2]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and an upright one among men there is not.”

[7:2]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”

[7:2]  ¹² sn Micah compares these ungodly people to hunters trying to capture their prey with a net.

[7:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “upon evil [are their] hands to do [it] well.”

[7:3]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “the official asks – and the judge – for a bribe.”

[7:3]  ¹⁵ tn More literally, “the great one announces what his appetite desires and they weave it together.” Apparently this means that subordinates plot and maneuver to make sure the prominent man’s desires materialize.