Micah 3:1-4
Should You Not Know Justice
Read the passage
1Then I said: “Hear now, O leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel. Should you not know justice?
2You hate good and love evil. You tear the skin from my people and strip the flesh from their bones.
3You eat the flesh of my people after stripping off their skin and breaking their bones. You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot, like meat in a cauldron.”
4Then they will cry out to the LORD, but He will not answer them. At that time He will hide His face from them because of the evil they have done.
Berean Standard Bible
Read aloud
Micah asks Israel’s leaders whether they should know justice. Their responsibility makes their conduct especially grievous: they hate good and love evil.
He describes their treatment of the people through the horror of butchery. Skin is torn away, flesh stripped from bones, and bodies chopped like meat for a pot. The image portrays rulers consuming the people entrusted to them. Those who should protect life have made others serve their appetite.
When these leaders cry to the LORD, He will not answer. He will hide His face because of the evil they have done. Their position gives them no claim on His help while they abuse the people under them.
God’s refusal is part of His judgment on that abuse. He has heard what the rulers would rather ignore: the wrong done to people who depend on them. Micah’s question exposes the failure at the heart of their authority—they should know justice, yet they practice its opposite.
Questions
1 To whom does Micah speak?
AnswerHe speaks to the leaders of Jacob and rulers of Israel, the very people responsible for knowing and administering justice.
2 What should those leaders know?
AnswerThey should know justice and distinguish good from evil, because leadership without moral understanding becomes predatory.
3 What do the butchery images mean?
AnswerThey portray leaders who consume and dehumanize the people they govern, treating citizens as material for their own gain.
4 Why will the LORD not answer them?
AnswerBecause they have done evil and then seek God's help without turning from the harm they caused.
What This Means for Us
A person who depends on your decisions may find it difficult to tell you that you are being unfair. Micah addresses leaders who should have known how to treat the people in their care.
Make it possible for someone with less power to speak honestly. Listen without threatening, mocking, or immediately defending yourself. If you have used authority to take more than you should, put that right; prayer belongs beside that responsibility.
Prayer
God of justice, make us trustworthy with every responsibility You give us. Protect people who depend on leaders, expose abuse of power, and teach us to repair what our choices have damaged. Amen.