Micah

{1:1} The word of Jehovah that came to Micah the Morashtite in thedays of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he sawconcerning Samaria and Jerusalem. {1:2} Hear, ye peoples, all of you:hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord Jehovah bewitness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. {1:3} For, behold,Jehovah cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and treadupon the high places of the earth. {1:4} And the mountains shall bemelted under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before thefire, as waters that are poured down a steep place. {1:5} For thetransgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house ofIsrael. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and whatare the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem? {1:6} Therefore Iwill make Samaria as a heap of the field, [and] as places for plantingvineyards; and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, andI will uncover the foundations thereof. {1:7} And all her graven imagesshall be beaten to pieces, and all her hires shall be burned with fire,and all her idols will I lay desolate; for of the hire of a harlot hathshe gathered them, and unto the hire of a harlot shall they return.{1:8} For this will I lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; Iwill make a wailing like the jackals, and a lamentation like theostriches. {1:9} For her wounds are incurable; for it is come even untoJudah; it reacheth unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.{1:10} Tell it not in Gath, weep not at all: at Beth-le-aphrah have Irolled myself in the dust. {1:11} Pass away, O inhabitant of Shaphir,in nakedness and shame: the inhabitant of Zaanan is not come forth; thewailing of Beth-ezel shall take from you the stay thereof. {1:12} Forthe inhabitant of Maroth waiteth anxiously for good, because evil iscome down from Jehovah unto the gate of Jerusalem. {1:13} Bind thechariot to the swift steed, O inhabitant of Lachish: she was thebeginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the transgressions ofIsrael were found in thee. {1:14} Therefore shalt thou give a partinggift to Moresheth-gath: the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thingunto the kings of Israel. {1:15} I will yet bring unto thee, Oinhabitant of Mareshah, him that shall possess thee: the glory ofIsrael shall come even unto Adullam. {1:16} Make thee bald, and cut offthy hair for the children of thy delight: enlarge thy baldness as theeagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.

{2:1} Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon theirbeds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in thepower of their hand. {2:2} And they covet fields, and seize them; andhouses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, evena man and his heritage. {2:3} Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold,against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not removeyour necks, neither shall ye walk haughtily; for it is an evil time.{2:4} In that day shall they take up a parable against you, and lamentwith a doleful lamentation, [and] say, We are utterly ruined: hechangeth the portion of my people: how doth he remove [it] from me! tothe rebellious he divideth our fields. {2:5} Therefore thou shalt havenone that shall cast the line by lot in the assembly of Jehovah. {2:6}Prophesy ye not, [thus] they prophesy. They shall not prophesy tothese: reproaches shall not depart. {2:7} Shall it be said, O house ofJacob, Is the Spirit of Jehovah straitened? are these his doings? Donot my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? {2:8} But of latemy people is risen up as an enemy: ye strip the robe from off thegarment from them that pass by securely [as men] averse from war. {2:9}The women of my people ye cast out from their pleasant houses; fromtheir young children ye take away my glory for ever. {2:10} Arise ye,and depart; for this is not your resting-place; because of uncleannessthat destroyeth, even with a grievous destruction. {2:11} If a manwalking in a spirit of falsehood do lie, [saying], I will prophesy untothee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of thispeople. {2:12} I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I willsurely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as thesheep of Bozrah, as a flock in the midst of their pasture; they shallmake great noise by reason of [the multitude of] men. {2:13} Thebreaker is gone up before them: they have broken forth and passed on tothe gate, and are gone out thereat; and their king is passed on beforethem, and Jehovah at the head of them.

{3:1} And I said, Hear, I pray you, ye heads of Jacob, and rulers ofthe house of Israel: is it not for you to know justice? {3:2} ye whohate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from offthem, and their flesh from off their bones; {3:3} who also eat theflesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break theirbones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within thecaldron. {3:4} Then shall they cry unto Jehovah, but he will not answerthem; yea, he will hide his face from them at that time, according asthey have wrought evil in their doings. {3:5} Thus saith Jehovahconcerning the prophets that make my people to err; that bite withtheir teeth, and cry, Peace; and whoso putteth not into their mouths,they even prepare war against him: {3:6} Therefore it shall be nightunto you, that ye shall have no vision; and it shall be dark unto you,that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down upon the prophets,and the day shall be black over them. {3:7} And the seers shall be putto shame, and the diviners confounded; yea, they shall all cover theirlips; for there is no answer of God. {3:8} But as for me, I am full ofpower by the Spirit of Jehovah, and of judgment, and of might, todeclare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin. {3:9} Hearthis, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of thehouse of Israel, that abhor justice, and pervert all equity. {3:10}They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. {3:11} Theheads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire,and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet they lean upon Jehovah,and say, Is not Jehovah in the midst of us? no evil shall come upon us.{3:12} Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, andJerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the highplaces of a forest.

{4:1} But in the latter days it shall come to pass, that themountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established on the top of themountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shallflow unto it. {4:2} And many nations shall go and say, Come ye, and letus go up to the mountain of Jehovah, and to the house of the God ofJacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah fromJerusalem; {4:3} and he will judge between many peoples, and willdecide concerning strong nations afar off: and they shall beat theirswords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nationshall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn warany more. {4:4} But they shall sit every man under his vine and underhis fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of Jehovahof hosts hath spoken it. {4:5} For all the peoples walk every one inthe name of his god; and we will walk in the name of Jehovah our Godfor ever and ever. {4:6} In that day, saith Jehovah, will I assemblethat which is lame, and I will gather that which is driven away, andthat which I have afflicted; {4:7} and I will make that which was lamea remnant, and that which was cast far off a strong nation: and Jehovahwill reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth even for ever. {4:8}And thou, O tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, untothee shall it come, yea, the former dominion shall come, the kingdom ofthe daughter of Jerusalem. {4:9} Now why dost thou cry out aloud? Isthere no king in thee, is thy counsellor perished, that pangs havetaken hold of thee as of a woman in travail? {4:10} Be in pain, andlabor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; fornow shalt thou go forth out of the city, and shalt dwell in the field,and shalt come even unto Babylon: there shalt thou be rescued; therewill Jehovah redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies. {4:11} And nowmany nations are assembled against thee, that say, Let her be defiled,and let our eye see [our desire] upon Zion. {4:12} But they know notthe thoughts of Jehovah, neither understand they his counsel; for hehath gathered them as the sheaves to the threshing-floor. {4:13} Ariseand thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make thy horn iron, and Iwill make thy hoofs brass; and thou shalt beat in pieces many peoples:and I will devote their gain unto Jehovah, and their substance unto theLord of the whole earth.

{5:1} Now shalt thou gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops:he hath laid siege against us; they shall smite the judge of Israelwith a rod upon the cheek. {5:2} But thou, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, whichart little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall onecome forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forthare from of old, from everlasting. {5:3} Therefore will he give themup, until the time that she who travaileth hath brought forth: then theresidue of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. {5:4}And he shall stand, and shall feed [his flock] in the strength ofJehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God: and they shallabide; for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. {5:5} Andthis [man] shall be [our] peace. When the Assyrian shall come into ourland, and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raiseagainst him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. {5:6} And theyshall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrodin the entrances thereof: and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian,when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our border.{5:7} And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples asdew from Jehovah, as showers upon the grass, that tarry not for man,nor wait for the sons of men. {5:8} And the remnant of Jacob shall beamong the nations, in the midst of many peoples, as a lion among thebeasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who,if he go through, treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and there isnone to deliver. {5:9} Let thy hand be lifted up above thineadversaries, and let all thine enemies be cut off. {5:10} And it shallcome to pass in that day, saith Jehovah, that I will cut off thy horsesout of the midst of thee, and will destroy thy chariots: {5:11} and Iwill cut off the cities of thy land, and will throw down all thystrongholds. {5:12} And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy hand; andthou shalt have no [more] soothsayers: {5:13} and I will cut off thygraven images and thy pillars out of the midst of thee; and thou shaltno more worship the work of thy hands; {5:14} and I will pluck up thineAsherim out of the midst of thee; and I will destroy thy cities. {5:15}And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath upon the nations whichhearkened not.

{6:1} Hear ye now what Jehovah saith: Arise, contend thou before themountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. {6:2} Hear, O yemountains, Jehovah’s controversy, and ye enduring foundations of theearth; for Jehovah hath a controversy with his people, and he willcontend with Israel. {6:3} O my people, what have I done unto thee? andwherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. {6:4} For I broughtthee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house ofbondage; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. {6:5} O mypeople, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaamthe son of Beor answered him; [remember] from Shittim unto Gilgal, thatye may know the righteous acts of Jehovah. {6:6} Wherewith shall I comebefore Jehovah, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come beforehim with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old? {6:7} will Jehovah bepleased with thousands of rams, [or] with ten thousands of rivers ofoil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of mybody for the sin of my soul? {6:8} He hath showed thee, O man, what isgood; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and tolove kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God? {6:9} The voice ofJehovah crieth unto the city, and [the man of] wisdom will see thyname: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. {6:10} Are there yettreasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a scant measurethat is abominable? {6:11} Shall I be pure with wicked balances, andwith a bag of deceitful weights? {6:12} For the rich men thereof arefull of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, andtheir tongue is deceitful in their mouth. {6:13} Therefore I also havesmitten thee with a grievous wound; I have made thee desolate becauseof thy sins. {6:14} Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thyhumiliation shall be in the midst of thee: and thou shalt put away, butshalt not save; and that which thou savest will I give up to the sword.{6:15} Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives,but shalt not anoint thee with oil; and the vintage, but shalt notdrink the wine. {6:16} For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all theworks of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I maymake thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing: and yeshall bear the reproach of my people.

{7:1} Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summerfruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster toeat; my soul desireth the first-ripe fig. {7:2} The godly man isperished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men: theyall lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.{7:3} Their hands are upon that which is evil to do it diligently; theprince asketh, and the judge [is ready] for a reward; and the greatman, he uttereth the evil desire of his soul: thus they weave ittogether. {7:4} The best of them is as a brier; the most upright is[worse] than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen, even thyvisitation, is come; now shall be their perplexity. {7:5} Trust ye notin a neighbor; put ye not confidence in a friend; keep the doors of thymouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. {7:6} For the son dishonoreththe father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, thedaughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the menof his own house. {7:7} But as for me, I will look unto Jehovah; I willwait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. {7:8} Rejoicenot against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit indarkness, Jehovah will be a light unto me. {7:9} I will bear theindignation of Jehovah, because I have sinned against him, until heplead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth tothe light, [and] I shall behold his righteousness. {7:10} Then mineenemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her who said unto me, Whereis Jehovah thy God? Mine eyes shall see [my desire] upon her; now shallshe be trodden down as the mire of the streets. {7:11} A day forbuilding thy walls! in that day shall the decree be far removed. {7:12}In that day shall they come unto thee from Assyria and the cities ofEgypt, and from Egypt even to the River, and from sea to sea, and[from] mountain to mountain. {7:13} Yet shall the land be desolatebecause of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.{7:14} Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy heritage, whichdwell solitarily, in the forest in the midst of Carmel: let them feedin Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. {7:15} As in the days ofthy coming forth out of the land of Egypt will I show unto themmarvellous things. {7:16} The nations shall see and be ashamed of alltheir might; they shall lay their hand upon their mouth; their earsshall be deaf. {7:17} They shall lick the dust like a serpent; likecrawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of theirclose places; they shall come with fear unto Jehovah our God, and shallbe afraid because of thee. {7:18} Who is a God like unto thee, thatpardoneth iniquity, and passeth over the transgression of the remnantof his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because hedelighteth in lovingkindness. {7:19} He will again have compassion uponus; he will tread our iniquities under foot; and thou wilt cast alltheir sins into the depths of the sea. {7:20} Thou wilt perform thetruth to Jacob, [and] the lovingkindness to Abraham, which thou hastsworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

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