Micah 3

7. cover their lips--The Orientals prided themselves on the moustache and beard ("upper lip," Margin). To cover it, therefore, was a token of shame and sorrow ( Leviticus 13:45 , Ezekiel 24:17 Ezekiel 24:22 ). "They shall be so ashamed of themselves as not to dare to open their mouths or boast of the name of prophet" [CALVIN].
there is no answer of God--They shall no more profess to have responses from God, being struck dumb with calamities ( Micah 3:6 ).

8. I--in contrast to the false prophets ( Micah 3:5 Micah 3:7 ).
full of power--that which "the Spirit of Jehovah" imparts for the discharge of the prophetical function ( Luke 1:17 , 24:49 , Acts 1:8 ).
judgment--a sense of justice [MAURER]; as opposed to the false prophets' speaking to please men, not from a regard to truth. Or, "judgment" to discern between graver and lighter offenses, and to denounce punishments accordingly [GROTIUS].
might--moral intrepidity in speaking the truth at all costs ( 2 Timothy 1:7 ).
to declare unto Jacob his . . . sin--( Isaiah 58:1 ). Not to flatter the sinner as the false prophets do with promises of peace.

9. Hear--resumed from Micah 3:1 . Here begins the leading subject of the prophecy: a demonstration of his assertion that he is "full of power by the Spirit of Jehovah" ( Micah 3:8 ).

10. They--change of person from "ye" ( Micah 3:9 ); the third person puts them to a greater distance as estranged from Him. It is, literally, "Whosoever builds," singular.
build up Zion with blood--build on it stately mansions with wealth obtained by the condemnation and murder of the innocent ( Jeremiah 22:13 , Ezekiel 22:27 , Habakkuk 2:12 ).

11. heads thereof--the princes of Jerusalem.
judge for reward--take bribes as judges ( Micah 7:3 ).
priests teach for hire--It was their duty to teach the law and to decide controversies gratuitously ( Leviticus 10:11 , Deuteronomy 17:11 , Malachi 2:7 ; compare Jeremiah 6:13 , Jude 1:11 ).
prophets . . . divine--that is, false prophets.
Is not the Lord among us?--namely in the temple ( Isaiah 48:2 , Jeremiah 7:4 Jeremiah 7:8-11 ).

12. Jeremiah 26:18 quotes this verse. The Talmud and MAIMONIDES record that at the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans under Titus, Terentius Rufus, who was left in command of the army, with a ploughshare tore up the foundations of the temple.
mountain of the house--the height on which the temple stands.
as the high places of the forest--shall become as heights in a forest overrun with wild shrubs and brushwood.