Micah 3:3

3 qui comederunt carnem populi mei et pellem eorum desuper excoriaverunt et ossa eorum confregerunt et conciderunt sicut in lebete et quasi carnem in medio ollae

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 et dixi audite principes Iacob et duces domus Israhel numquid non vestrum est scire iudicium

2 qui odio habetis bonum et diligitis malum qui violenter tollitis pelles eorum desuper eos et carnem eorum desuper ossibus eorum

3 qui comederunt carnem populi mei et pellem eorum desuper excoriaverunt et ossa eorum confregerunt et conciderunt sicut in lebete et quasi carnem in medio ollae

4 tunc clamabunt ad Dominum et non exaudiet eos et abscondet faciem suam ab eis in tempore illo sicut nequiter egerunt in adinventionibus suis

5 haec dicit Dominus super prophetas qui seducunt populum meum qui mordent dentibus suis et praedicant pacem et si quis non dederit in ore eorum quippiam sanctificant super eum proelium