False Confidence issuing in the Destruction of Jerusalem. Micah again addresses the rulers, who have founded the prosperity of the capital on violence and injustice (Micah 3:9 f.; cf. Jeremiah 22:13 ff.). The sentence of the judge, the oracle of the priest, the divination of the prophet, are dictated by gain, not God; yet they flatter themselves that all is well, since Yahweh is in their midst (being visibly represented by His dwelling-place, the Temple; cf. Isaiah 1:10 ff., Amos 5:21 ff., Jeremiah 7:4). But Yahweh will lay Jerusalem in ruins, and the Temple-mount shall become a mere wooded hill-top. As Micah began (Micah 1:5), so here he ends his prophecy on the keynote of the sin of the capital city. For the vivid impression left even a century later by this unprecedented conclusion, see Intro.
Micah 3:12. high places: height (sing. with LXX).