Albert Barnes Commentary Micah 3:4

"Then shall they cry unto Jehovah, but he will not answer them; yea, he will hide his face from them at that time, according as they have wrought evil in their doings." — Micah 3:4 (ASV)

Then shall they cry unto the Lord – "Then." The prophet looks forward to the Day of the Lord, which is always before his mind. So the Psalmist, speaking of a time or place not expressed, says, There were they in great fear (Psalms 53:5).

He sees it and points to it, seeing what those to whom he spoke did not see, and all the more dreadfully because he saw with superhuman (certain) vision what was hidden from their eyes. The "then" was not then, "in the time of grace," but when the day of grace would be over, and the Day of Judgment would have come.

So concerning that day, when judgment would begin, God says in Jeremiah, Behold I will bring evil upon them which they shall not be able to go forth of, and they will cry unto Me, and I will not hearken unto them (Jeremiah 11:11). And David says, They cried and there was none to save; unto the Lord, and He answered them not (Psalms 18:41). And Solomon says, Whoso stoppeth his ears at the cry of the poor, he shall cry himself and shall not be heard (Proverbs 21:13).

And James says, He shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy (James 2:13). Prayer is never too late until judgment comes. The day of grace is over when the time of judgment has arrived. "They shall cry to the Lord and shall not be heard, because they too did not hear those who asked them; and the Lord shall turn His Face from them, because they too turned their face from those who implored them."

He will even hide His Face – He will not look in mercy on those who would not receive His look of grace. Your sins, He says by Isaiah, have hid His face from you, that He heareth not. O what will that turning away of the Face be, on which eternity hangs!

As – There is a proportion between the sin and the punishment. As it is said, As I have done, so God hath requited me. The verse states, They have behaved themselves ill in their doings; literally, they have made their deeds evil. The word rendered "doings" is almost always used in a bad sense, meaning mighty deeds, and so deeds done with a high hand.

Not ignorantly or negligently, nor through human frailty, but with set purpose they applied themselves, not to amend but to corrupt their doings and make them worse. God called to them by all His prophets, make good your doings (Jeremiah 35:15); and they, reversing it, used diligence to make their doings evil.

Jerome says: "All this they shall suffer, because they were not rulers, but tyrants; not Prefects, but lions; not masters of disciples, but wolves of sheep. And they sated themselves with flesh and were fattened, and, as sacrifices for the slaughter, were made ready for the punishment of the Lord."

Thus far this was against evil rulers; then he turns to the false prophets and evil teachers, who by flatteries subvert the people of God, promising them the knowledge of His word.