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Micah 3:5-8

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

5. Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him. 6. Therefore night [shall be] unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. 7. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for [there is] no answer of God. 8. But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.

Micah 3:5-8 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Micah 3:5

Theological / Devotional

The prophets. In verses 5-8 Micah denounces the sins of the false prophets, who deceived the people, and pronounces God’s judgment upon them. He shows that they thought only of themselves and of their living. In siding with the rich they closed their eyes to the social condition of the people. They did not attack the sins of the time.

Bite with their teeth. A comparison with the next clause suggests that the prophet may here be referring to eating. The expression would then signify that the prophets, when bribed with food, foretold the well-being of the people. However, because the word here translated “bite” (nashak) is always used elsewhere in the Old Testament of the bite of a serpent (Genesis 49:17; Numbers 21:6-9; Proverbs 23:32; Ecclesiastes 10:8, 11; Jeremiah 8:17), some think that the reference here is to the venom ejected by the false prophets when they prophesied, “Peace; and there was no peace” (Ezekiel 13:9, 10; cf. Jeremiah 8:11 ; 14:13, 14). Such spurious comfort only injected into the deceived soul the poison of disaster and death.

Into their mouths. These false prophets become hostile to those who do not bribe them.

By SdaBc