Micah
Chapter 1
1:1The word of YHWH,that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz,and Hezekiah Kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria,and Jerusalem.
1:2Hear, all the people: listen, O earth, and all that in it is, and let Adonai YHWH be witness against you, even YHWH from his holy Temple.
1:3For behold, YHWH comes out of his place,and will come down,and tread upon the high places of the earth.
1:4And the mountains shall melt under him (so shall the valleys cleave) as wax before the fire,and as the waters that are poured downward.
1:5For the wickedness of Jacob is all this,and for the sins of the house of Israel:what is the wickedness of Jacob? Is not Samaria? And which are the high places of Judah? Is not Jerusalem?
1:6Therefore I will make Samaria as a heap of the field, and for the planting of a vineyard, and I will cause the stones of it to tumble down into the valley, and I will discover the foundations of it.
1:7And all the graven images of it shall be broken, and all the gifts of it shall be burnt with the fire, and all the idols of it will I destroy: for she gathered it of the hire of a harlot, and they shall return to the wages of a harlot.
1:8Therefore I will mourn and howl:I will go without clothes,and naked:I will make lamentation like the dragons,and mourning as the ostriches.
1:9For her plagues are grievous:for it is come into Judah:the enemy is come to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.
1:10Declare you it not at Gath,neither weep you:for the house of Aphrah roll yourself in the dust.
1:11You that dwell at Shaphir, go together naked with shame:she that dwells at Zaanan, shall not come forth in the mourning of Beth:the enemy shall receive of you for his standing.
1:12For the inhabitant of Maroth waited for good,but evil came from YHWH to the gate of Jerusalem.
1:13O you inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the beasts of price:she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion:for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
1:14Therefore shall you give presents to Moresheth-gath:the houses of Achzib shall be as a lie to the Kings of Israel.
1:15Yet will I bring an heir to you, O inhabitant of Mareshah, he shall come to Adullam, the glory of Israel.
1:16Make you bald:and shave you for your delicate children:enlarge your baldness as the eagle,for they are gone into captivity from you.
Chapter 2
2:1Woe to them,that imagine iniquity,and work wickedness upon their beds:when the morning is light they practice it because their hand has power.
2:2And they covet fields,and take them by violence,and houses,and take them away:so they oppress a man and his house, even man and his heritage.
2:3Therefore thus saysYHWH, Behold, against this family have I devised a plague, therefore you shall not pluck your necks,and you shall not go so proudly,for this time is evil.
2:4In that day shall they take up a parable against you,and lament with a mournful lamentation,and say, We be utterly wasted:he has changed the portion of my people:how has he taken it away to restore it to me? He has divided our fields.
2:5Therefore you shall have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the Congregation of YHWH.
2:6They that prophesied, Prophecy you not. They shall not prophecy to them,neither shall they take shame.
2:7O you that are named of the house of Jacob, is the Spirit of YHWH shortened? Are these his works? Are not my words good to him that walks uprightly?
2:8But he that was yesterday my people, is risen up on the other side, as against an enemy:they spoil the beautiful garment from them that pass by peaceably, as though they returned from the war.
2:9The women of my people have you cast out from their pleasant houses,and from their children have you taken away my glory continually.
2:10Arise and depart,for this is not your rest:because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.
2:11If a man walking in spirit and falsehood lies, saying, I will prophecy to you of wine,and of strong drink, he shall even be the prophet of this people.
2:12I will surely gather you wholly, O Jacob:I will surely gather the remnant of Israel:I will put them together as the sheep of Bozrah, even as the flock in the midst of their fold:the cities shall be loud with the multitude of men.
2:13The breaker up shall come up before them:they shall break out,and pass by the gate,and go out by it,and their King shall go before them,and YHWH shall be upon their heads.
Chapter 3
3:1And I said, Hear, please, O heads of Jacob,and the princes of the house of Israel:should not you know judgment?
3:2But they hate the good,and love the evil:they pluck off their skins from them,and their flesh from their bones.
3:3And they eat also the flesh of my people,and flay off their skin from them,and they break their bones,and chop them in pieces, as for the pot,and as flesh within the cauldron.
3:4Then shall they cry to YHWH,but he will not hear them:he will even hide his face from them at that time, because they have done wickedly in their works.
3:5Thus says YHWH, Concerning the prophets that deceive my people, and bite them with their teeth, and cry peace, but if a man does not put into their mouths, they sanctify war against him,
3:6Therefore night shall be to you for a vision,and darkness shall be to you for a divination,and the sun shall go down over the prophets,and the day shall be dark over them.
3:7Then shall the Seers be ashamed,and the soothsayers confounded:yes, they shall all cover their lips,for they have none answer of Elohim.
3:8Yet notwithstanding I am full of power by the Spirit of YHWH,and of judgment,and of strength to declare to Jacob his transgression,and to Israel his sin.
3:9Hear this, please, you heads of the house of Jacob,and princes of the house of Israel:they abhor judgment,and pervert all equity.
3:10They build up Zion with blood,and Jerusalem with iniquity.
3:11The heads of it judge for rewards, and the Priests of it teach for hire, and the prophets of it prophecy for money: yet will they lean upon YHWH, and say, Is not YHWH among us? No evil can come upon us.
3:12Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field,and Jerusalem shall be a heap,and the mountain of the house, as the high places of the forest.
Chapter 4
4:1But in the last days it shall come to pass,that the mountain of the House of YHWH shall be prepared in the top of the mountains,and it shall be exalted above the hills,and people shall flow to it.
4:2Yes, many nations shall come and say, Come,and let us go up to the Mountain of YHWH,and to the House of the Elohim of Jacob,and he will teach us his ways,and we will walk in his paths:for the Law shall go forth from Zion,and the word of YHWH from Jerusalem.
4:3And he shall judge among many people,and rebuke mighty nations afar off,and they shall break their swords into nations,and their spears into scythes:nation shall not lift up a sword against nation,neither shall they learn to fight any more.
4:4But they shall sit every man under his vine,and under his fig tree,and none shall make them afraid:for the mouth of YHWH of hosts has spoken it.
4:5For all people will walk every one in the name of his Elohim,and we will walk in the Name of YHWH our Elohim, forever and ever.
4:6At the same day, saysYHWH, will I gather her that halts,and I will gather her that is cast out,and her that I have afflicted.
4:7And I will make her that halted, a remnant,and her that was cast far off, a mighty nation:and YHWH shall reign over them in Mount Zion, from here forth even forever.
4:8And you, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter Zion, to you shall it come, even the first dominion,and kingdom shall come to the daughter Jerusalem.
4:9Now why do you cry out with lamentation? Is there no King in you? Is your counselor perished? For sorrow has taken you, as a woman in labor.
4:10Sorrow and mourn, O daughter Zion, like a woman in labor:for now shall you go forth from the city,and dwell in the field,and shall go into Babel,but there shall you be delivered:there YHWH shall redeem you from the hand of your enemies.
4:11Now also many nations are gathered against you, saying, Zion shall be profaned and our eye shall look upon Zion.
4:12But they know not the thoughts of YHWH:they understand not his counsel,for he shall gather them as the sheaves in the barn.
4:13Arise,and thresh, O daughter Zion:for I will make your horn iron,and I will make your hooves brass,and you shall break in pieces many people:and I will consecrate their riches to YHWH,and their substance to the ruler of the whole world.
4:14Now assemble yourself in troops, O daughter of troops: he has laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
5:1And you Bethlehem Ephrathah are little to be among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall he come forth to me,that shall be the ruler in Israel:whose goings forth have been from the beginning and from everlasting.
5:2Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she who shall bear has given birth:then the remnant of their brethren shall return to the children of Israel.
5:3And he shall stand,and feed in the strength of YHWH,and in the majesty of the Name of YHWH his Elohim,and they shall dwell still:for now shall he be magnified to the ends of the world.
5:4And he shall be our peace when Asshur shall come into our land:when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds,and eight principal men.
5:5And they shall destroy Asshur with the sword,and the land of Nimrod with their swords:thus shall he deliver us from Asshur, when he comes into our land,and when he shall tread within our borders.
5:6And the remnant of Jacob shall be among many people, as a dew from YHWH,and as the showers upon the grass,that waits not for man, nor hops in the sons of Adam.
5:7And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people, as the lion among the beasts of the forest,and as the young lion among the flocks of sheep, who when he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces,and none can deliver.
5:8Your hand shall be lifted up upon your adversaries,and all your enemies shall be cut off.
5:9And it shall come to pass in that day, saysYHWH,that I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you,and I will destroy your chariots.
5:10And I will cut off the cities of your land,and overthrow all your strong holds.
5:11And I will cut off your enchanters out of your hand:and you shall have no more soothsayers.
5:12Your idols also will I cut off,and your images out of the midst of you:and you shall no more worship the work of your hands.
5:13And I will pluck up your groves out of the midst of you: so will I destroy your cities.
5:14And I will execute a vengeance in my wrath and indignation upon the heathen, which they have not heard.
Chapter 6
6:1Listen now to what YHWH says, Arise,and contend before the mountains,and let the hills hear your voice.
6:2Hear you, O mountains, YHWH's controversy,and you mighty foundations of the earth:for YHWH has a quarrel against his people,and he will plead with Israel.
6:3O my people, what have I done to you? Or in what have I grieved you? Testify against me.
6:4Surely I brought you up out of the land of Egypt,and redeemed you out of the house of servants,and I have sent before you, Moses, Aaron,and Miriam.
6:5O my people, remember now what Balak King of Moab had devised,and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from Him to Gilgal,that you may know the righteousness of YHWH.
6:6With what shall I come before YHWH,and bow myself before the high Elohim? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,and with calves of a year old?
6:7Will YHWH be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, even the fruit of my body,for the sin of my nephesh?
6:8He has showed you, O man, what is good,and what YHWH requires of you:surely to do justly,and to love chesed,and to humble yourself, to walk with your Elohim.
6:9The YHWH's voice cries to the city,and the man of wisdom shall see your name:Hear the rod,and who has appointed it.
6:10Are yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked,and the scant measure,that is abominable?
6:11Shall I justify the wicked balances,and the bag of deceitful weights?
6:12For the rich men of it are full of cruelty,and the inhabitants of it have spoken lies,and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
6:13Therefore also will I make you sick in smiting you,and in making you desolate, because of your sins.
6:14You shall eat and not be satisfied,and your casting down shall be in the midst of you,and you shall take hold,but shall not deliver:and that which you deliver, will I give up to the sword.
6:15You shall sow,but not reap:you shall tread the olives,but you shall not anoint you with oil,and make sweet wine,but shall not drink wine.
6:16For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the manner of the house of Ahab, and you walk in their counsels, that I should make you waste, and the inhabitants of it a hissing: therefore you shall bear the reproach of my people.
7:1Woe is me,for I am as the summer gatherings,and as the grapes of the vintage:there is no cluster to eat:my nephesh desired the first ripe fruits.
7:2The good man is perished out of the earth,and there is none righteous among men:they all lie in wait for blood:every man hunts his brother with a net.
7:3To make good for the evil of their hands, the prince asked,and the judge judges for a reward:therefore the great man he speaks out the corruption of his nephesh:so they wrapped it up.
7:4The best of them is as a brier,and the most righteous of them is sharper than a thorn hedge:the day of your watchmen and your visitation comes:then shall be their confusion.
7:5Do not trust in a friend,neither put confidence in a counselor:keep the doors of your mouth from her that lies in your bosom.
7:6For the son rises the father:the daughter rises up against her mother:the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law,and a man's enemies are the men of his own house.
7:7Therefore I will look to YHWH:I will wait for Elohim my Savior:my Elohim will hear me.
7:8Rejoice not against me, O my enemy:though I fall, I shall arise:when I shall sit in darkness, YHWH shall be a light to me.
7:9I will bear the wrath of YHWH because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause,and execute judgment for me:then will he bring me forth to the light,and I shall see his righteousness.
7:10Then she that is my enemy, shall look upon it,and shame shall cover her, which said to me, Where is YHWH your Elohim? My eyes shall behold her:now shall she be trampled down as the mire of the streets.
7:11This is the day,that your walls shall be built:this day shall drive far away the decree.
7:12In this day also they shall come to you from Asshur,and from the strong cities,and from the strong holds even to the river,and from Sea to Sea,and from mountain to mountain.
7:13Notwithstanding, the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell in it, and for the fruits of their inventions.
7:14Feed your people with your rod, the flock of your heritage (which dwell solitary in the wood) as in the midst of Carmel:let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in old time.
7:15According to the days of your coming out of the land of Egypt, will I show to him marvelous things.
7:16The nations shall see,and be confounded for all their power:they shall lay their hand upon their mouth:their ears shall be deaf.
7:17They shall lick the dust like a serpent:they shall move out of their holes like worms:they shall be afraid of YHWH our Elohim,and shall fear because of you.
7:18Who is an El like to you,that takes away iniquity,and passes by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage! He retain not his wrath forever, because chesed pleases him.
7:19He will turn again,and have compassion upon us:he will subdue our iniquities,and cast all their sins into the bottom of the sea.
7:20You will perform your truth to Jacob,and chesed to Abraham, as you have sworn to our fathers in old time.