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?
ye who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;
who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.
Then shall they cry unto Jehovah, 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.
Thus saith Jehovah concerning the prophets that make my people to err; that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and whoso putteth not into their mouths, they even {Hebrew: sanctify.}prepare war against him:
Therefore 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.
And the seers shall be put to shame, and the diviners confounded; yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.
But as for me, I am full of power {Or, even the Spirit}by the Spirit of Jehovah, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.
Hear 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.
They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet they lean upon Jehovah, and say, Is not Jehovah in the midst of us? no evil shall come upon us.
Therefore 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.
Querverweise zu Micha 3,11 Mich 3,11
{Or, Both hands are put forth for evil to do it &c.}Their hands are upon that which is evil to do it diligently; the prince asketh, and the judge is ready for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth the evil desire of his soul: thus they weave it together.
For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
Thus saith Jehovah concerning the prophets that make my people to err; that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and whoso putteth not into their mouths, they even {Hebrew: sanctify.}prepare war against him:
And when the people were come into the camp, the elders of Israel said, Wherefore hath Jehovah smitten us to-day before the Philistines? Let us fetch the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of Shiloh unto us, that it may come among us, and save us out of the hand of our enemies.
So the people sent to Shiloh; and they brought from thence the ark of the covenant of Jehovah of hosts, who {Or, is enthroned}sitteth above the cherubim: and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were there with the ark of the covenant of God.
And when the ark of the covenant of Jehovah came into the camp, all Israel shouted with a great shout, so that the earth rang again.
And when the Philistines heard the noise of the shout, they said, What meaneth the noise of this great shout in the camp of the Hebrews? And they understood that the ark of Jehovah was come into the camp.
All the sinners of my people shall die by the sword, who say, The evil shall not overtake nor meet us.
And Moses was very wroth, and said unto Jehovah, Respect not thou their offering: I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them.
Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall possess them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness; from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
Yea, the dogs are greedy, they can never have enough; and these are shepherds that cannot understand: they have all turned to their own way, each one to his gain, {Or, one and all}from every quarter.
(for they call themselves of the holy city, and stay themselves upon the God of Israel; Jehovah of hosts is his name):
And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted justice.
Oh that there were one among you that would shut the doors, that ye might not kindle fire on mine altar in vain! I have no pleasure in you, saith Jehovah of hosts, neither will I accept an offering at your hand.
Now when Simon saw that through the laying on of the apostles' hands the {Some ancient authorities omit Holy.}Holy Spirit was given, he offered them money,
saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay my hands, he may receive the Holy Spirit.
But Peter said unto him, Thy silver perish with thee, because thou hast thought to obtain the gift of God with money.
Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, are these.
Here I am: witness against me before Jehovah, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I taken a {Or, bribe}ransom {Or, that I should hide mine eyes at him}to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you.
{Or, not quarrelsome over wine}no brawler, no striker; but gentle, not contentious, no lover of money;
But there arose false prophets also among the people, as among you also there shall be false teachers, who shall privily bring in {Or, sects of perdition}destructive heresies, denying even the Master that bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.
And many shall follow their lascivious doings; by reason of whom the way of the truth shall be evil spoken of.
And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not.
Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.
Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods that ye have not known,
and come and stand before me in this house, {Hebrew: whereupon my name is called.}which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered; that ye may do all these abominations?
Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, saith Jehovah.
But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken aught of any man's hand.
whose mouths must be stopped; men who overthrow whole houses, teaching things which they ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.
having eyes full of {Greek: an adulteress.}adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; enticing unstedfast souls; having a heart exercised in covetousness; children of cursing;
and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; every one loveth bribes, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them.
Tend the flock of God which is among you, {Some ancient authorities omit exercising the oversight.}exercising the oversight, not of constraint, but willingly, {Some ancient authorities omit according to the will of God.}according to the will of God; nor yet for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind;
forsaking the right way, they went astray, having followed the way of Balaam the son of {Many ancient authorities read Bosor.}Beor, who loved the hire of wrong-doing;
But if thou bearest the name of a Jew, and restest upon the law, and gloriest in God,
and knowest {Or, the Will}his will, and {Or, dost distinguish the things that differ}approvest the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law,
and art confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them that are in darkness,
a {Or, an instructor}corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the truth;
thou therefore that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? thou that preachest a man should not steal, dost thou steal?
thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost thou commit adultery? thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou rob temples?
thou who gloriest in the law, through thy transgression of the law dishonorest thou God?
For the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, {Isaiah 52:5.}even as it is written.
For circumcision indeed profiteth, if thou be a doer of the law: but if thou be a transgressor of the law, thy circumcision is become uncircumcision.
If therefore the uncircumcision keep the ordinances of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned for circumcision?
and shall not the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who with the letter and circumcision art a transgressor of the law?
For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh:
but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
In thee have they taken bribes to shed blood; thou hast taken interest and increase, and thou hast greedily gained of thy neighbors by oppression, and hast forgotten me, saith the Lord Jehovah.
Woe unto them! for they went in the way of Cain, and {Or, cast themselves away through}ran riotously in the error of Balaam for hire, and perished in the gainsaying of Korah.
Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, that they may get dishonest gain.
{Or, Their carouse is over}Their drink is become sour; they play the harlot continually; {Or, they are given up to love; her rulers are a shame}her {Hebrew: shields.}rulers dearly love shame.
Her princes in the midst of her are roaring lions; her judges are evening wolves; they {Or, gnaw not the bones on the morrow}leave nothing till the morrow.