Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;

MICAH 3:2KJV
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Micah 3:2 (KJV)

What does Micah 3:2 mean?

Micah 3:2 describes leaders who have turned morality upside down, hating what is good and loving what is evil, and who treat people with shocking cruelty, as if tearing off their skin and flesh. The verse uses vivid language to show how these leaders abuse and exploit those they should protect.

Micah, a prophet, is speaking to the leaders of Israel—judges, rulers, and officials—who were supposed to uphold justice. Instead, they are accused of loving wrongdoing (evil) and rejecting what is right (good), acting so harshly that it is compared to flaying people alive. This graphic picture highlights the depth of their corruption and the suffering they cause.

The Hebrew behind Micah 3:2

  • שָׂנֵא (śānēʼ, H8130) — "hate": This word means an active, willful rejection or hostility, not just a lack of affection. The leaders are not neutral toward good; they are actively against it.
  • טוֹב (ṭôḇ, H2896) — "good": This word often refers to what is morally right or beneficial. The leaders are rejecting what is truly right and beneficial for the people.
  • אָהַב (ʼāhav, H157) — "love": This word means to actively desire or choose. The leaders are not just tolerating evil; they are drawn to it and prefer it.
  • רַע (raʿ, H7451) — "evil": This word covers what is harmful, wrong, or wicked. The leaders are embracing what brings harm and injustice.
  • עֹר (ʿôr, H5785) — "skin": The mention of skin being torn off is a metaphor for extreme exploitation and cruelty, suggesting the leaders are stripping people of their dignity and safety.
  • בָּשָׂר (bāśār, H7607) — "flesh": This word deepens the image, showing the leaders’ actions are not just superficial harm but deeply destructive.

Why Micah 3:2 matters

  • Micah 3:2 clears up any idea that the leaders’ wrongdoing was minor; the imagery shows their actions were deeply harmful and abusive.
  • The verse emphasizes that moral failure begins with the heart—hating good and loving evil—before it shows up in actions.
  • This verse connects to the wider passage by setting up God’s case against the leaders, explaining why judgment is coming and highlighting the seriousness of their betrayal of trust.

Where else these words appear

“flesh” Hebrew H7607 · used in 16 verses

  • Exodus 21:10 If he take him another wife; her food, her raiment, and her duty of marriage, shall he not diminish.
  • Leviticus 21:2 But for his kin, that is near unto him, that is, for his mother, and for his father, and for his son, and for his daughter, and for his brother,
  • Psalms 78:27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and feathered fowls like as the sand of the sea:

“off” Hebrew H1497 · used in 30 verses

  • Genesis 21:25 And Abraham reproved Abimelech because of a well of water, which Abimelech's servants had violently taken away.
  • 1 Chronicles 11:23 And he slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits high; and in the Egyptian's hand was a spear like a weaver's beam; and he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear.
  • Isaiah 10:2 To turn aside the needy from judgment, and to take away the right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless!

“skin” Hebrew H5785 · used in 82 verses

  • Genesis 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
  • Leviticus 13:12 And if a leprosy break out abroad in the skin, and the leprosy cover all the skin of him that hath the plague from his head even to his foot, wheresoever the priest looketh;
  • Leviticus 13:59 This is the law of the plague of leprosy in a garment of woollen or linen, either in the warp, or woof, or any thing of skins, to pronounce it clean, or to pronounce it unclean.

“bones” Hebrew H6106 · used in 108 verses

  • Genesis 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
  • 1 Kings 13:31 And it came to pass, after he had buried him, that he spake to his sons, saying, When I am dead, then bury me in the sepulchre wherein the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones:
  • Psalms 141:7 Our bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.