Micah 3:3

3 You break up the bones, chop the meat, and throw it in a pot for cannibal stew."

Micah 3:3 Meaning and Commentary

Micah 3:3

Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skins from
off them
Like cannibals, flay them alive, and then eat their flesh: this signifies, as before, devouring their substance, only expressed in terms which still more set forth their savageness, inhumanity, barbarity, and cruelty. So the Targum,

``who spoil the substance of my people, and their precious mammon they take from them;''

and what aggravated their guilt was, that they were the Lord's people by profession and religion they so used; whom he had committed to their care to rule over, protect, and defend: and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces as for the pot, and
as flesh within the caldron:
did with them as cooks do, who not only cut flesh off the bones, and into slices, but break the bones themselves, to get out the marrow, and chop them small, that they may have all the virtue that is in them, to make their soup and broth the richer; by which is signified, that these wicked and avaricious rulers took every method to squeeze the people, and get all their wealth and riches into their hands, that they might have in a more riotous and luxurious manner.

Micah 3:3 In-Context

1 Then I said: "Listen, leaders of Jacob, leaders of Israel: Don't you know anything of justice?

2 Haters of good, lovers of evil: Isn't justice in your job description? But you skin my people alive. You rip the meat off their bones.

3 You break up the bones, chop the meat, and throw it in a pot for cannibal stew."

4 The time's coming, though, when these same leaders will cry out for help to God, but he won't listen. He'll turn his face the other way because of their history of evil.

5 Here is God's Message to the prophets, the preachers who lie to my people: "For as long as they're well paid and well fed, the prophets preach, 'Isn't life wonderful! Peace to all!' But if you don't pay up and jump on their bandwagon, their 'God bless you' turns into 'God damn you.'