[1] The word of the LORD that
came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah,
kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
[2]
Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let
the Lord GOD be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
[3] For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.
[4]
And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be
cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a
steep place.
[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?
[6] Therefore I will make Samaria as an
heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down
the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations
thereof.
[7] And all the graven images thereof shall be
beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the
fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered
it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an
harlot.
[8] Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go
stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and
mourning as the owls.
[9] For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.
[10] Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all: in the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust.
[11]
Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked: the
inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Beth-ezel; he
shall receive of you his standing.
[12] For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem.
[13]
O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast: she
is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion: for the
transgressions of Israel were found in thee.
[14] Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moresheth-gath: the houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel.
[15] Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel.
[16]
Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy
baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.
[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] And they covet fields, and take them by
violence; and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his
house, even a man and his heritage.
[3] Therefore thus saith
the LORD; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which
ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for this
time is evil.
[4] In that day shall one take up a parable
against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We be
utterly spoiled: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he
removed it from me! turning away he hath divided our fields.
[5] Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD.
[6] Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame.
[7]
O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD
straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that
walketh uprightly?
[8] Even of late my people is risen up as
an enemy: ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by
securely as men averse from war.
[9] The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever.
[10] Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.
[11]
If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I will
prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the
prophet of this people.
[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 the flock in the midst of
their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of
men.
[13] The breaker is come up before them: they have
broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it:
and their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them.
[1] And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?
[2] Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;
[3]
Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them;
and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot,
and as flesh within the caldron.
[4] Then shall they cry unto
the LORD, but he will not hear them: he will even hide his face from
them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.
[5]
Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people err,
that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth not
into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.
[6]
Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and
it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall
go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark over them.
[7]
Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they
shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.
[8]
But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of
judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to
Israel his sin.
[9] Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the
house of Jacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor
judgment, and pervert all equity.
[10] They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
[11]
The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for
hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean
upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can come
upon us.
[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 the forest.
[1]
But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the
house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and
it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it.
[2]
And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the
mountain of the LORD, 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 the law shall
go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
[3]
And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar
off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears
into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation,
neither shall they learn war any more.
[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 the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.
[5] For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.
[6]
In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I
will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted;
[7]
And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far
off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion
from henceforth, even for ever.
[8] And thou, O tower of the
flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it
come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter
of Jerusalem.
[9] Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there
no king in thee? is thy counseller perished? for pangs have taken thee
as a woman in travail.
[10] Be in pain, and labour to bring
forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou
go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou
shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD
shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.
[11] Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.
[12]
But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his
counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor.
[13]
Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron,
and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many
people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their
substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.
[1]
Now 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.
[2] But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be
little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come
forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have
been from of old, from everlasting.
[3] Therefore will he
give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought
forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children
of Israel.
[4] And he shall stand and feed in the strength of
the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they
shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
[5]
And this man shall be the 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.
[6] And
they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of
Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the
Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our
borders.
[7] And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst
of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass,
that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.
[8]
And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of
many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion
among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down,
and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.
[9] Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.
[10]
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I will cut
off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy
chariots:
[11] And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds:
[12] And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers:
[13]
Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of
the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine
hands.
[14] And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities.
[15] And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.
[1] Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
[2]
Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD's controversy, and ye strong foundations
of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his people, and he
will plead with Israel.
[3] O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.
[4]
For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out
of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and
Miriam.
[5] O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab
consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim
unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD.
[6]
Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high
God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a
year old?
[7] Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of
rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn
for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
[8]
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD
require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God?
[9] The LORD's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.
[10] Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?
[11] Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?
[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.
[13] Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.
[14]
Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in
the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and
that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.
[15]
Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives,
but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not
drink wine.
[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
should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing:
therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.
[1]
Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as
the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul
desired the firstripe fruit.
[2] The good 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.
[3]
That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince asketh, and
the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth his
mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.
[4] The best of them
is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day
of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now shall be their
perplexity.
[5] Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
[6]
For the son dishonoureth 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] Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
[8] Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.
[9]
I will bear the indignation of the LORD, 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.
[10]
Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover her
which said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? mine eyes shall behold
her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.
[11] In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed.
[12]
In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the
fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea
to sea, and from mountain to mountain.
[13] Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.
[14]
Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell
solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan
and Gilead, as in the days of old.
[15] According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things.
[16]
The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall
lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.
[17]
They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their
holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our
God, and shall fear because of thee.
[18] Who is a God like
unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of
the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever,
because he delighteth in mercy.
[19] He will turn again, he
will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou
wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
[20] Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.