SEV Biblia, Chapter 3:1
¶ Y dije: Oíd ahora, príncipes de Jacob, y cabezas de la Casa de Israel: ¿No pertenecía a vosotros saber el derecho?
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Micah 3:1
Verse 1. Hear-O heads of Jacob] The metaphor of the flock is still carried on. The chiefs of Jacob, and the princes of Israel, instead of taking care of the flocks, defending them, and finding them pasture, oppressed them in various ways. They are like wolves, who tear the skin of the sheep, and the flesh off their bones. This applies to all unjust and oppressive rulers. Suetonius tells us, in his Life of Tiberius, that when the governors of provinces wrote to the emperor, entreating him to increase the tributes, he wrote back: "It is the property of a good shepherd to shear his sheep, not to skin them." Praesidibus onerandas tributo provincias suadentibus rescripsit: BONI PASTORIS esse TONDERE pecus, non DEGLUBEBE. This is a maxim which many rulers of the earth do not seem to understand.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 1. And I said, hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel , etc.] This seems to be a new sermon or discourse, delivered at another time and to another people than the preceding for, as that chiefly concerns the ten tribes, this the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and was spoken to them in the times of Hezekiah, as appears from ( Jeremiah 26:18); for though Jacob and Israel generally design the ten tribes, yet here the other two, as is manifest from the above cited place, and also from ( Micah 3:9,10,12); and not only heads of families, but such as were the highest posts under the government, the sanhedrim of the nation, judges, rulers, and nobles, are here addressed; and who had a great share in national guilt, being ringleaders in sin, who ought to have set good examples to others; and these are not to be spared because of their grandeur and dignity, but to faithfully reproved for their vices, and which they should diligently attend unto; though they are to be addressed in a respectful and honourable manner, and be entreated to hearken to the word of the Lord by his prophet; all which was carefully observed by Micah; and it was with pleasure he could reflect upon his plain, faithful, and affectionate reproof of those great men: [is it] not for you to know judgment ? what is just and right to be done by men, and what sentence is to be passed in courts of judicature, in cases brought before them and not only to know, in a speculative way, what is equitable, but to practise it themselves, and see that it is done by others; and when they duly considered this, they would be able to see and own that what the prophet from the Lord would now charge them with, or denounce upon them, was according to truth and justice.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-8 - Men cannot expect to do ill, and fare well; but to find that done to them which they did to others. How seldom do wholesome truths reach the ears of those in high stations or in authority! Those who deceiv others are preparing confusion for their own faces. The prophet ha ardent love to God and to the souls of men; deep concern for his glor and their salvation, and zeal against sin. The difficulties he met with did not drive him from his work. He had this strength; not from and of himself, but he was full of power by the Spirit of the Lord. Those wh act honestly, may act boldly. And those who come to hear the word of God, must be willing to be told of their faults, must take it kindly and be thankful.
Original Hebrew
ואמר 559 שׁמעו 8085 נא 4994 ראשׁי 7218 יעקב 3290 וקציני 7101 בית 1004 ישׂראל 3478 הלוא 3808 לכם לדעת 3045 את 853 המשׁפט׃ 4941
