You are building Jerusalem on a foundation of murder and corruption.
Parallel translations
- WEB They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
- KJV They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
- BSB who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with iniquity.
- NKJV Who build up Zion with bloodshed And Jerusalem with iniquity:
- NASB Who build Zion with bloodshed, And Jerusalem with malice.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
They build Zion and Jerusalem with bloodshed and iniquity. It charges the leaders with founding the city on injustice.
Overview
The capital's grandeur was financed through violence and corruption, building God's city on a foundation of sin. Such 'building with blood' may include forced labor and exploitation. What looks like prosperity is, in God's sight, an edifice of guilt destined to fall.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Hab 2:9–12Woe to him who gets an evil gain for his house, that he may set his nest on high, that he may be delivered from the hand of evil!
- Jer 22:13–17“Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness, and his rooms by injustice; who uses his neighbor’s service without wages, and doesn’t give him his hire;
- Matt 27:25All the people answered, “May his blood be on us, and on our children!”
- Ezek 22:25–28There is a conspiracy of her prophets within it, like a roaring lion ravening the prey. They have devoured souls. They take treasure and precious things. They have made her widows many within it.
- Zeph 3:3Her princes within her are roaring lions. Her judges are evening wolves. They leave nothing until the next day.
- John 11:50nor do you consider that it is advantageous for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.”
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Micah names the town — 'But you, Bethlehem... from you shall come forth one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origins are from of old' — the birthplace of the eternal King.
How Micah 3:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.