Justice for Sale

Micah turns to the leaders: the heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel. He asks, isn't it for you to know justice? Leaders were meant to protect the weak, but these rulers hated the good and loved the evil. Micah uses shocking word-pictures to show how cruelly they treated the people, as if they were consuming them. Because they made their deeds evil, he says they will cry to Yahweh, but he will hide his face from them.

Next Yahweh addresses prophets who lead his people astray. Their message depended on payment: if fed, they proclaimed peace; if not, they declared war. So night would fall on them, with no vision, and the sun would go down on the prophets. The seers would be disappointed and cover their lips, for there is no answer from God.

Against this, Micah declares, but as for me, I am full of power by Yahweh's Spirit, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his disobedience, and to Israel his sin. He lists the corruption: leaders judge for bribes, priests teach for a price, and prophets tell fortunes for money. Still they lean on Yahweh and say no disaster will come. Therefore Zion would be plowed like a field and the temple mountain would become like a forest. The book of Jeremiah later quotes this warning (Jeremiah 26:18).