
Micah

   {1:1} The word of Jehovah that came to Micah the Morashtite in the
days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw
concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. {1:2} Hear, ye peoples, all of you:
hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord Jehovah be
witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. {1:3} For, behold,
Jehovah cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread
upon the high places of the earth. {1:4} And the mountains shall be
melted under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the
fire, as waters that are poured down a steep place. {1:5} For the
transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of
Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what
are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem? {1:6} Therefore I
will make Samaria as a heap of the field, [and] as places for planting
vineyards; and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and
I will uncover the foundations thereof. {1:7} And all her graven images
shall 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 hath
she 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; I
will make a wailing like the jackals, and a lamentation like the
ostriches. {1:9} For her wounds are incurable; for it is come even unto
Judah; 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 I
rolled myself in the dust. {1:11} Pass away, O inhabitant of Shaphir,
in nakedness and shame: the inhabitant of Zaanan is not come forth; the
wailing of Beth-ezel shall take from you the stay thereof. {1:12} For
the inhabitant of Maroth waiteth anxiously for good, because evil is
come down from Jehovah unto the gate of Jerusalem. {1:13} Bind the
chariot to the swift steed, O inhabitant of Lachish: she was the
beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the transgressions of
Israel were found in thee. {1:14} Therefore shalt thou give a parting
gift to Moresheth-gath: the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing
unto the kings of Israel. {1:15} I will yet bring unto thee, O
inhabitant of Mareshah, him that shall possess thee: the glory of
Israel shall come even unto Adullam. {1:16} Make thee bald, and cut off
thy hair for the children of thy delight: enlarge thy baldness as the
eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.



   {2:1} Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their
beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the
power of their hand. {2:2} And they covet fields, and seize them; and
houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even
a man and his heritage. {2:3} Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold,
against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove
your 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 lament
with a doleful lamentation, [and] say, We are utterly ruined: he
changeth the portion of my people: how doth he remove [it] from me! to
the rebellious he divideth our fields. {2:5} Therefore thou shalt have
none that shall cast the line by lot in the assembly of Jehovah. {2:6}
Prophesy ye not, [thus] they prophesy. They shall not prophesy to
these: reproaches shall not depart. {2:7} Shall it be said, O house of
Jacob, Is the Spirit of Jehovah straitened? are these his doings? Do
not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? {2:8} But of late
my people is risen up as an enemy: ye strip the robe from off the
garment 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; from
their young children ye take away my glory for ever. {2:10} Arise ye,
and depart; for this is not your resting-place; because of uncleanness
that destroyeth, even with a grievous destruction. {2:11} If a man
walking in a spirit of falsehood do lie, [saying], I will prophesy unto
thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this
people. {2:12} I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will
surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the
sheep of Bozrah, as a flock in the midst of their pasture; they shall
make great noise by reason of [the multitude of] men. {2:13} The
breaker is gone up before them: they have broken forth and passed on to
the gate, and are gone out thereat; and their king is passed on before
them, and Jehovah at the head of them.



   {3:1} And I said, Hear, I pray you, ye heads of Jacob, and rulers of
the house of Israel: is it not for you to know justice? {3:2} ye who
hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off
them, and their flesh from off their bones; {3:3} who also eat the
flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their
bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the
caldron. {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. {3:5} Thus saith Jehovah
concerning the prophets that make my people to err; that bite with
their teeth, and cry, Peace; and whoso putteth not into their mouths,
they even prepare war against him: {3:6} Therefore it shall be night
unto 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 put
to shame, and the diviners confounded; yea, they shall all cover their
lips; for there is no answer of God. {3:8} But as for me, I am full of
power by the Spirit of Jehovah, and of judgment, and of might, to
declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin. {3:9} Hear
this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and rulers of the
house of Israel, that abhor justice, and pervert all equity. {3:10}
They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. {3:11} The
heads 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, and
Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high
places of a forest.





   {4:1} But in the latter days it shall come to pass, that the
mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established on the top of the
mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and peoples shall
flow unto it. {4:2} And many nations shall go and say, Come ye, and let
us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, and to the house of the God of
Jacob; 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 from
Jerusalem; {4:3} and he will judge between many peoples, and will
decide concerning strong nations afar off: and they shall beat their
swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation
shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war
any more. {4:4} But they shall sit every man under his vine and under
his fig-tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of Jehovah
of hosts hath spoken it. {4:5} For all the peoples walk every one in
the name of his god; and we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God
for ever and ever. {4:6} In that day, saith Jehovah, will I assemble
that which is lame, and I will gather that which is driven away, and
that which I have afflicted; {4:7} and I will make that which was lame
a remnant, and that which was cast far off a strong nation: and Jehovah
will 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, unto
thee shall it come, yea, the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of
the daughter of Jerusalem. {4:9} Now why dost thou cry out aloud? Is
there no king in thee, is thy counsellor perished, that pangs have
taken hold of thee as of a woman in travail? {4:10} Be in pain, and
labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for
now 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; there
will Jehovah redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies. {4:11} And now
many 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 not
the thoughts of Jehovah, neither understand they his counsel; for he
hath gathered them as the sheaves to the threshing-floor. {4:13} Arise
and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will make thy horn iron, and I
will make thy hoofs brass; and thou shalt beat in pieces many peoples:
and I will devote their gain unto Jehovah, and their substance unto the
Lord 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 Israel
with a rod upon the cheek. {5:2} But thou, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, which
art little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall one
come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth
are from of old, from everlasting. {5:3} Therefore will he give them
up, until the time that she who travaileth hath brought forth: then the
residue of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. {5:4}
And he shall stand, and shall feed [his flock] in the strength of
Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God: and they shall
abide; for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. {5:5} And
this [man] shall be [our] peace. When the Assyrian shall come into our
land, and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise
against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. {5:6} And they
shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod
in 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 as
dew 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 be
among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, as a lion among the
beasts 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 is
none to deliver. {5:9} Let thy hand be lifted up above thine
adversaries, and let all thine enemies be cut off. {5:10} And it shall
come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah, that I will cut off thy horses
out of the midst of thee, and will destroy thy chariots: {5:11} and I
will cut off the cities of thy land, and will throw down all thy
strongholds. {5:12} And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy hand; and
thou shalt have no [more] soothsayers: {5:13} and I will cut off thy
graven images and thy pillars out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt
no more worship the work of thy hands; {5:14} and I will pluck up thine
Asherim 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 which
hearkened not.



   {6:1} Hear ye now what Jehovah saith: Arise, contend thou before the
mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. {6:2} Hear, O ye
mountains, Jehovah's controversy, and ye enduring foundations of the
earth; for Jehovah hath a controversy with his people, and he will
contend with Israel. {6:3} O my people, what have I done unto thee? and
wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. {6:4} For I brought
thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of
bondage; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. {6:5} O my
people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam
the son of Beor answered him; [remember] from Shittim unto Gilgal, that
ye may know the righteous acts of Jehovah. {6:6} Wherewith shall I come
before Jehovah, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before
him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old? {6:7} will Jehovah be
pleased with thousands of rams, [or] with ten thousands of rivers of
oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my
body for the sin of my soul? {6:8} He hath showed thee, O man, what is
good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to
love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God? {6:9} The voice of
Jehovah crieth unto the city, and [the man of] wisdom will see thy
name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. {6:10} Are there yet
treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a scant measure
that is abominable? {6:11} Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and
with a bag of deceitful weights? {6:12} For the rich men thereof are
full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and
their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. {6:13} Therefore I also have
smitten thee with a grievous wound; I have made thee desolate because
of thy sins. {6:14} Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy
humiliation shall be in the midst of thee: and thou shalt put away, but
shalt 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 not
drink the wine. {6:16} For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the
works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I may
make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing: and ye
shall bear the reproach of my people.



   {7:1} Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer
fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to
eat; my soul desireth the first-ripe fig. {7:2} The godly man is
perished out of the earth, and there is none upright among men: they
all 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; the
prince asketh, and the judge [is ready] for a reward; and the great
man, he uttereth the evil desire of his soul: thus they weave it
together. {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 thy
visitation, is come; now shall be their perplexity. {7:5} Trust ye not
in a neighbor; put ye not confidence in a friend; keep the doors of thy
mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. {7:6} For the son dishonoreth
the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the
daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men
of his own house. {7:7} But as for me, I will look unto Jehovah; I will
wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. {7:8} Rejoice
not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in
darkness, Jehovah will be a light unto me. {7:9} I will bear the
indignation of Jehovah, because I have sinned against him, until he
plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he will bring me forth to
the light, [and] I shall behold his righteousness. {7:10} Then mine
enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her who said unto me, Where
is Jehovah thy God? Mine eyes shall see [my desire] upon her; now shall
she be trodden down as the mire of the streets. {7:11} A day for
building 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 of
Egypt, and from Egypt even to the River, and from sea to sea, and
[from] mountain to mountain. {7:13} Yet shall the land be desolate
because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.
{7:14} Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy heritage, which
dwell solitarily, in the forest in the midst of Carmel: let them feed
in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. {7:15} As in the days of
thy coming forth out of the land of Egypt will I show unto them
marvellous things. {7:16} The nations shall see and be ashamed of all
their might; they shall lay their hand upon their mouth; their ears
shall be deaf. {7:17} They shall lick the dust like a serpent; like
crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their
close places; they shall come with fear unto Jehovah our God, and shall
be afraid because of thee. {7:18} Who is a God like unto thee, that
pardoneth iniquity, and passeth over the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he
delighteth in lovingkindness. {7:19} He will again have compassion upon
us; he will tread our iniquities under foot; and thou wilt cast all
their sins into the depths of the sea. {7:20} Thou wilt perform the
truth to Jacob, [and] the lovingkindness to Abraham, which thou hast
sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.




