1 The word of the Jehovah came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah; what he saw over Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Hear, all you people; Be attentive, earth, and everything that is in you; and the Lord God, the Lord from his holy temple, be a witness against you.
3 For behold, the LORD is coming out of his place, and will come down and trample the heights of the earth.
4 And the mountains will melt under it, and the valleys will split like wax before the fire, like water running down a precipice.
5 All this because of the rebellion of Jacob, and because of the sins of the house of Israel. What is Jacob’s rebellion? Isn’t it Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Isn’t it Jerusalem?
6 Therefore I will make Samaria heaps of ruins, and land to plant vineyards; and I will scatter its stones in the valley, and will reveal its foundations.
7 And all his statues will be broken in pieces, and all his gifts will be burned with fire, and I will destroy all his idols; because he gathered them from the gifts of harlots, and to the gifts of harlots they will return.
8 For this I will mourn and howl, and I will walk stripped and naked; I will howl like jackals, and mourn like ostriches.
9 For his wound is painful, and it has reached Judah; He came to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.
10 Do not say it in Gath, nor cry much; wallow in the dust of Bet-le-afra.
11 Come, O inhabitant of Safir, naked and in shame; The inhabitant of Zaanan does not go out; The crying of Bethesel will take away your support from him.
12 For the inhabitants of Maroth longed for good; for from Jehovah evil had descended to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Yoke fast beasts to the chariot, O inhabitants of Lachish, who were the source of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
14 Therefore you will give gifts to Moresheth-gat; The houses of Achzib will be a deception to the kings of Israel.
15 I will even bring you a new possessor, O inhabitants of Mareshah; The flower of Israel will flee to Adullam.
16 Cut yourself and shear yourself for the children of your delights; Become bald like an eagle, because in captivity they left you.
1 Woe to those who in their beds think iniquity and plot evil, and when the morning comes they do it, because they have power in their hand!
2 They covet inheritances and steal them; and houses, and they take them; They oppress man and his house, man and his inheritance.
3 Therefore thus says the Lord: Behold, I plan against this family an evil from which you will not remove your necks, nor walk upright; because the weather will be bad.
4 At that time they will raise up a proverb against you, and a lamentation will be made, saying: We are completely destroyed; He has changed the portion of my people. How he took our fields from us! He gave them and distributed them to others.
5Therefore there will be no one who divides inheritances by lot in the congregation of Jehovah.
6 Do not prophesy, they say to those who prophesy; do not prophesy to them, because they will not be ashamed.
7 You who call yourself the house of Jacob, has the Spirit of the Lord been shortened? Are these his works? Do not my words do good to him who walks uprightly?
8 He who was my people yesterday has risen up as an enemy; From over his garment you boldly removed the cloaks of those who passed by, like adversaries of war.
9 You drove the women of my people out of the houses that were their delight; from their children you took away my perpetual praise.
10 Arise and walk, for this is not the place of rest, for it is polluted, greatly corrupted.
11 If anyone walking in a spirit of falsehood lies, saying, I will prophesy to you of wine and strong drink; This man will be the prophet of this people.
12 I will surely gather everything together for you, O Jacob; I will certainly gather the rest of Israel; I will gather him like the sheep of Bozrah, like a flock in the midst of his sheepfold; They will make a noise for the multitude of men.
13 He who opens ways before them will go up; They will make a way and pass through the gate, and will come out through it; and his king will pass before them, and the Lord will pass over them.
1 I said, Hear now, princes of Jacob, and leaders of the house of Israel: Is it not your concern to know what is right?
2 You who hate good and love evil, who take away their skin and their flesh from their bones;
3 who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from them, and break their bones and break them as for the cauldron, and as meat in a pot.
4 Then you will cry to the Lord, and he will not answer you; but he will hide his face from you at that time, because you did evil deeds.
5 Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, and cry, Peace, when they have something to eat, and to him who does not give them food, they proclaim war against him:
6 Therefore, of the prophecy It will make night, and darkness of divination; and the sun will set on the prophets, and the day will be darkened over them.
7 And the prophets will be put to shame, and the soothsayers will be confounded; and they will all close their lips, because there is no answer from God.
8 But I am full of power from the Spirit of the Lord, and with judgment and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his transgression.
9 Hear this now, ye leaders of the house of Jacob, and captains of the house of Israel, that ye abhor judgment, and pervert all justice;
10 who build Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with injustice.
11 Their leaders judge for bribery, and their priests teach for a price, and their prophets divine for money; and they rely on the Lord, saying, Is the Lord not among us? He will not come upon us evil.
12 Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the house like forest peaks.
1 It will come to pass in the last times that the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the head of the mountains, and higher than the hills, and people will flock to it.
2 Many nations will 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 in his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall come the law, and out of Jerusalem the word of the Lord.
3 And he will judge between many peoples, and will correct mighty nations far away; and they will hammer their swords into plowshares, and their spears into sickles; He will not lift up sword nation against nation, nor will they try for war anymore.
4 And everyone will sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and there will be no one to make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken it.
5 Although all people walk, each one in the name of his god, we with all will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.
6 In that day, says the Lord, I will gather the lame, and I will gather the stray, and the one I afflicted;
7 And I will make the lame a remnant, and the wandering a strong nation; and the Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion from now on forever.
8 And you, O tower of the flock, stronghold of the daughter of Zion, the first dominion will come to you, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.
9 Now, why are you shouting so much? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, who has taken you pain like that of a woman in labor?
10 Grieve and groan, daughter of Zion, like a woman in labor; for now you will go out of the city and dwell in the countryside, and you will come to Babylon; there you will be delivered, there the Lord will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.
11 But now many nations have gathered against you, and say, Let her be profaned, and let our eyes see the desire for her in Zion.
12 But they did not know the thoughts of the Lord, nor understood his counsel; therefore he gathered them together like sheaves on the threshing floor.
13 Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn like iron, and your nails like bronze, and you will break many people in pieces; and you shall consecrate his spoil to the Lord, and his riches to the Lord of the whole earth.
1 Surround yourself now with walls, daughter of warriors; they have besieged us; They will strike the judge of Israel on the cheek with a rod.
2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, small to be among the families of Judah, from you will come to me one who will be Lord in Israel; and the departures from him are from the beginning, from the days of eternity.
3 But he will leave them until the time that he gives birth to her who will give birth; and the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel.
4 And he will stand and feed in the power of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they will dwell securely, for he will now be exalted to the ends of the earth.
5 And this will be our peace. When the Assyrian comes to our land, and when he tramples our palaces, then we will raise up against him seven shepherds, and eight chief men;
6 and they will devastate the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with their swords; and he will deliver us from the Assyrian, when he comes against our land and tramples our borders.
7 The remnant of Jacob will be among many peoples like the dew of the Lord, like the rains on the grass, which do not wait for a man, nor wait for the sons of men.
8 Likewise the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, among many peoples, like the lion among the beasts of the forest, like the lion’s cub among the flocks of sheep, which if it pass by, and trample down, and snatch away, there is no one to escape.
9 Your hand will be lifted up against your enemies, and all your adversaries will be destroyed.
10 It will come to pass in that day, says the Lord, that I will kill your horses from among you, and destroy your chariots.
11 I will also destroy the cities of your land, and I will destroy all your strongholds.
12 Likewise I will destroy witchcraft from your hand, and no omens will be found in you.
13 And I will destroy your sculptures and your images from among you, and you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands.
14 I will uproot your Asherah images from among you, and I will destroy your cities;
15 And in wrath and fury I will take vengeance on the nations that did not obey.
1 Hear now what the Lord says: Arise, contend against the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.
2 Hear, mountains and strong foundations of the earth, the dispute of the Lord; for the Lord has a dispute with his people, and he will argue with Israel.
3 My people, what have I done to you, or what have I troubled you? Answer against me.
4 For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of bondage; and I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam before you.
5 My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab advised, and what Balaam son of Beor answered him, from Shittim to Gilgal, so that you may know the righteousness of the Jehovah.
6 With what shall I appear before Jehovah, and worship the Most High God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand streams of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my rebellion, the fruit of my loins for the sin of my soul?
8 O man, he has declared to you what is good, and what the Lord requires of you: only to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly before your God.
9 The voice of the Lord cries out to the city; It is wise to fear your name. Pay attention to the punishment, and to whom it establishes.
10 Are there still in the house of the wicked treasures of ungodliness, and a meager measure that is detestable?
11 Will I hold him innocent who has a false scale and a bag of deceitful weights?
12 His rich people filled themselves with plunder, and his inhabitants spoke lies, and his tongue is deceitful in his mouth
13 Therefore I also made you weak by wounding you, devastating you for your sins.
14 You will eat and not be satisfied, and your despondency will be in your midst; You will gather, but you will not save, and what you save, I will give to the sword.
15 You will sow, but you will not reap; You will tread olives, but you will not anoint yourself with oil; and wine, but you shall not drink the wine.
16 For the commandments of Omri have been kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you walked in their counsels, so that I would make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a mockery. You will therefore bear the disgrace of my people.
1 Woe is me! because I am like when they have gathered the fruits of summer, like when they have gleaned after the grape harvest, and there is no cluster left to eat; my soul desired the first fruits.
2 The merciful is gone from the earth, and there is none upright among men; They all lie in wait for blood; each one makes a net for his brother.
3 To complete wickedness with his hands, the prince sues, and the judge judges for reward; and the great one speaks the desire of his soul, and they confirm it.
4 The best of them is like the thorn; the straightest, like a bush; The day of your punishment is coming, the one that your watchmen announced; Now it will be your confusion.
5 Believe not in a friend, nor trust in a prince; Take care of the one who sleeps next to you, don’t open your mouth.
6 For a son dishonors his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and the enemies of a man are those of her house.
7 But I will look to the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me.
8 You, my enemy, do not rejoice over me, for though I have fallen, I will rise again; Even though I dwell in darkness, the Lord will be my light.
9 I will endure the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he judges my cause and executes my justice; he will bring me to light; I will see his justice.
10 And my enemy will see it, and shame will cover her; she the one who said to me: Where is Jehovah your God? My eyes will see it; she now she will be trodden down like the mud of the streets.
11 The day is coming when your walls will be built; That day the limits will be extended.
12 On that day they will come to you from Assyria and the fortified cities, and from the fortified cities to the River, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.
13 And the land will be desolate because of its inhabitants, because of the fruit of their works.
14 Feed your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, which dwells alone on the mountain, in a fertile field; look for pasture in Bashan and Gilead, as in the past.
15 I will show you wonders like the day you left Egypt.
16 The nations will see and be ashamed of all his might; They will put their hand over their mouth, they will deafen their ears.
17 They will lick the dust like a snake; Like the serpents of the earth, they will tremble in their confinements; They will turn in fear before the Lord our God, and will fear because of you.
18 What God is like you, who forgives iniquity, and forgets the sin of the remnant of his inheritance? He did not hold back his anger forever, for he delights in mercy.
19 He will have mercy on us again; He will bury our iniquities, and cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.
20 You will fulfill the truth to Jacob, and to Abraham the mercy, which you swore to our fathers from ancient times.
