Micah 3:5-12

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Micah 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. I. Let the princes hear their charge and their doom. The heads of Jacob, and the princes of the house of Israel, are... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Micah 3:8-12

Here, I. The prophet experiences a divine power going along with him in his work, and he makes a solemn profession and protestation of it, as that which would justify him, and bear him out, in his plain dealing with the princes and rulers. He would not, he durst not, make thus bold with the great men, but that he was carried out to do it by a prophetical impulse and impression. It was not he that said it, but God by him, and he could not but speak the word that God put into his mouth. It comes... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Micah 3:5

Thus saith the Lord, concerning the prophets that make my people err ,.... The false prophets, as the Targum; and as the description given of them shows; who, instead of directing the people in the right way, as by their office and characters as prophets they should have done, they led them into mistakes about matters of religion and civil government, and out of the way of their duty to God and men, and exposed them to great danger and distress; and this was the more aggravating, as they... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Micah 3:6

Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision ,.... Not that those outward gifts and illuminations, and that prophetic light they had, or seemed to have should be taken away from them, and it should be quite a night with them; because these men were never sent of God, or received any message from him, or had any prophetic talents at all, and therefore could not be taken away from them, and they be benighted in this sense; though, it is true, such might be the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Micah 3:7

Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded ,.... When the events of things will make it most clearly appear to all that their visions, divinations, and prophecies, are false; they will not be able to lift up their heads, or show their faces, but shame and confusion will cover them: yea, they shall all cover their lips ; stop their mouths, hold their tongues, and be entirely and totally silenced; they will not pretend to utter any other vision or prophecy; nor be able to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Micah 3:8

But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord ,.... Or, "full of power, even, the Spirit of the Lord", as Gussetius F6 Ebr. Comment. p. 468. , by way of contrast, and as explaining what is meant by power; for so the Spirit is sometimes called from his gifts and graces, which are powerful in men; see Luke 24:47 . These are the words of Micah concerning himself, in opposition to the false prophets, who are destitute of the Spirit of God; men of mean sordid dispositions, that... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Micah 3:9

Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel ,.... As an instance of his boldness, courage, and impartiality, he begins with the principal men of the land, and charges them with sins, and reproves for them, and denounces judgments on account of them; See Gill on Micah 3:1 ; that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity ; a sad character of princes, rulers, and judges, who not only ought to know but to love judgment, justice, and equity, and do... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Micah 3:10

They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. Or, "O thou that buildest up" F7 בונה "aedificans", Montanus, Munster, Burkius. , &c.; or "everyone of them that buildeth up" F8 "Quisque eorum aedificat", Vatablus, Piscator, Drusius. , &c.; for the word is in the singular number; but, be fire words rendered either of these ways, they respect the heads and princes of the people; who either repaired the temple on Zion, or ornamented the king's palace, or built... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Micah 3:11

The heads thereof judge for reward ,.... That is, the heads or principal men of Zion and Jerusalem; the kings, or sanhedrim, according to Kimchi; but as this prophecy was delivered in the times of Hezekiah, Jeremiah 26:18 , be who was so good a king must be excepted from this charge; perhaps it was delivered in the beginning of his reign, before a reformation was made, and might be the occasion of it: the former reign was a very wicked one; and very likely the public officers, judges, and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Micah 3:12

Therefore shall Zion for your sake be ploughed as a field ,.... That is, for your sins, as the Targum; for the bloodshed, injustice, and avarice of the princes, priests, and prophets; not that the common people were free from crimes; but these are particularly mentioned, as being ringleaders into sin, and who ought to have set better examples; as also to take off their vain confidence in themselves, who thought that Zion and Jerusalem would be built up and established by them, and... read more

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