Michaeas 3:4

4 thus they shall cry to the Lord, but he shall not hearken to them; and he shall turn away his face from them at that time, because they have done wickedly in their practices against themselves.

Michaeas 3:4 Meaning and Commentary

Micah 3:4

Then shall they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them,
&c.] When all the above evils threatened them in the preceding chapters shall come upon them; when the enemy shall invade their hind, besiege their cities, and take them, and they, their families and substance, just ready to fall into their hands, they shall cry unto the Lord; or pray unto him, as the Targum, in the time of their distress; but he will not hear their prayer, so as to answer it according to their desire; that is, he will not save them from imminent danger, but deliver them up, them, and all that belong unto them, into the hands of such that shall use them as they have done others: he will even hide his face from them at that time;
turn his back upon them, and a deaf ear to them, and show them no favour, nor grant them any help and protection: as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings;
he will punish them according to the law of retaliation; as when the poor cried unto them, when they were stripping them of their substance, and they would not hearken to them, so now, when they cry unto the Lord in their distress, he will not hearken to them; and as they turned their backs, and hid their faces from those that were afflicted by them, and would show them no favour, so will the Lord deal with them; and as they exercised the utmost cruelty and barbarity that could be done, they will now be given up into the hands of cruel and merciless men, that will use them in like manner: or, "because they have done ill in their doings" ^F2 to the poor, whose cause God will defend and vindicate.

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 (rvak) (any' wn) "eo quod", Sept. "quia", Drusius; "pro eo quod", Grotius.

Michaeas 3:4 In-Context

2 hate good, and seek evil; tear their skins off them, and their flesh off their bones:

3 even as they devoured the flesh of my people, and stripped their skins off them, and broke their bones, and divided as flesh for the caldron, and as meat for the pot,

4 thus they shall cry to the Lord, but he shall not hearken to them; and he shall turn away his face from them at that time, because they have done wickedly in their practices against themselves.

5 Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that lead my people astray, that bit with their teeth, and proclaim peace to them; and nothing was put into their mouth, they raised up war against them:

6 therefore there shall be night to you instead of a vision, and there shall be to you darkness instead of prophecy; and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be dark upon them.