Micah chapter 1
I lament over Samaria and Jerusalem
1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Hear, all you peoples; pay attention, earth, and all that is in you; and let 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 tread on the high places of the earth.
4 The mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a steep bank.
5 All this because of the transgression of Jacob, and because of 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? Is it not Jerusalem?
6 Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of ruins, and a land for planting vineyards; and I will pour out its stones in the valley, and lay bare its foundations.
7 All her statues will be smashed, all her gifts burned with fire, and I will destroy all her idols; for she gathered them from the gifts of prostitutes, and to the gifts of prostitutes they will return.
8 Therefore I will wail and wail, and go about stripped and naked; I will howl like jackals and wail like ostriches.
9 For her wound is grievous, and it has reached to Judah; it has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.
10 Do not tell it in Gath, nor weep much; roll in the dust of Beth-le-aphra.
11 Pass by, you inhabitant of Sapphir, naked and in shame; the inhabitant of Zaanan does not come out; the wailing of Bethesleel will take away your support.
12 For the inhabitants of Maroth longed for good; for evil had come down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness swift beasts to the chariot, O inhabitants of Lachish, who were the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; for in you were found the transgressions of Israel.
14 Therefore, you will give gifts to Moresheth-gath; the houses of Achzib will be a deception to the kings of Israel.
15 I will bring you yet another possessor, you inhabitants of Mareshah; the flower of Israel will flee to Adullam.
16 Shave your head and cut off your hair for the children of your delight; make yourself bald like the eagle, for they have gone into captivity from you.
Micah Chapter 2
Woe to those who oppress the poor!
1 Woe to those who devise wickedness on their beds and plot evil! At morning they carry it out because they have the power to do so.
2 They covet fields and seize them, and houses and take them away. They oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.
3 Therefore, this is what the Lord says: “I am planning disaster against this family, from which you will not recover, nor will you walk upright, for the time will be evil.
4 At that time a proverb will be taken up against you, and a lament will be sung: ‘We are utterly destroyed; he has changed the portion of my people. How he has taken away our fields! He has given them away and divided them among others.’
5 Therefore, no one will divide the inheritance by lot in the assembly of the Lord.
6 ‘Do not prophesy,’ they say to those who prophesy; ‘Do not prophesy to them, for they will not be put to shame.’”
7 You who call yourselves 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 You who were my people yesterday have risen up as enemies; you boldly stripped the cloaks from those who passed by, like adversaries in war.
9 You drove the women of my people from their homes, their delight; you took away my perpetual praise from their children.
10 Arise and walk, for this is not the place of rest, because it is defiled, utterly corrupt.
11 If anyone, walking in a deceitful spirit, lies and says, “I will prophesy to you of wine and strong drink,” he will be the prophet of this people.
12 I will surely gather all of you, Jacob; I will surely collect the remnant of Israel; I will assemble them like sheep of Bozrah, like a flock in the midst of its fold; they will make a noise because of the multitude of men.
13 The one who breaks the way will go up before them; they will break the way and pass through the gate and go out by it; their king will pass on before them, the Lord will be their head.
Micah Chapter 3
Accusation against the leaders of Israel
1 I said, “Hear now, you princes of Jacob, and leaders of the house of Israel: Is it not for you to know what is right?
2 You who hate good and love evil, who strip their skin and flesh from their bones,
3 who eat the flesh of my people, who flay their skin from them, who break their bones and smash them as for the pot, as meat in a pan.
4 Then you will cry out to the Lord, but he will not answer you; at that time he will hide his face from you because of the evil you have done.”
5 This is what the Lord says about the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry “Peace!” when they have food, but wage war against those who do not give them food:
6 Therefore night will come upon you as prophecy, and darkness as divination; The sun will set on the prophets, and the day will grow dark over them.
7 The prophets will be put to shame, the diviners confounded; they will all shut their lips, for there is no answer from God.
8 But I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.
9 Hear this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, you rulers of the house of Israel, you who despise justice and pervert all that is right,
10 who build Zion with bloodshed and Jerusalem with injustice.
11 Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a price, and her prophets divine for money; yet they lean on the Lord, saying, “Is not the Lord among us? No disaster will come upon us.”
12 Therefore, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become heaps of ruins, and the temple mount will be like the heights of a forest.
Micah Chapter 4
Universal reign of Jehovah
1 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it.
2 Many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.” The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.
4 Everyone will sit under their own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken.
5 Though all the peoples walk each in the name of their god, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.
Israel will be redeemed from captivity
6 “ In that day,” declares the Lord, “I will gather the lame and assemble the outcast, those I have afflicted.
7 I will make the lame a remnant and the outcast a strong nation, and the Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion from now on and forevermore.”
8 “ And you, tower of the flock, stronghold of the daughter of Zion, to you will come the former dominion, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.
9 Now why do you cry out so much? Is there no king in you? Has your counselor perished, that pain has seized you like that of a woman in labor?”
10 Wail and groan, Daughter Zion, like a woman in labor. For now you will go out of the city and dwell in the open country, and you will go as far as 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, saying, “Let her be defiled, and let our eyes see their lust in Zion!”
12 But they did not know the thoughts of the Lord, nor understand his plan; therefore he gathered them like sheaves on the threshing floor.
13 Arise and thresh, Daughter Zion, for I will make your horn like iron and your claws like bronze, and you will break many peoples in pieces. You will dedicate their plunder to the Lord, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.
Micah Chapter 5
The reign of the liberator from Bethlehem
1 Now build walls around yourself, 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, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.
3 Yet he will leave them until the time when she who is in labor bears a son, and the remnant of his brothers will return to the Israelites.
4 He will stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. They will live securely, for now his greatness will reach to the ends of the earth.
5 He will be our peace. When the Assyrian invades our land and treads down our fortresses, we will raise up against him seven shepherds and eight leading men.
6 They will lay waste 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 treads upon our borders.
7 The remnant of Jacob will be among many peoples like the dew of the Lord, like showers on the grass, which do not wait for man, nor linger for the sons of men.
8 Likewise, the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep, which, if it passes through, treads down, and tears away, there is none that can escape.
9 Your hand will be lifted up against your enemies, and all your adversaries will be destroyed.
10 In that day, declares the Lord, I will kill your horses from among you, and I will destroy your chariots.
11 I will also destroy the cities of your land, and I will ruin all your strongholds.
12 I will also destroy sorcery from your hand, and no soothsayers will be found among you.
13 I will destroy your carved images and your idols from among you, and you will no longer bow down to the work of your hands.
14 I will uproot your Asherah poles from among you and destroy your cities;
15 in anger and wrath I will exact vengeance on the nations that did not obey me.
Micah Chapter 6
Jehovah's controversy against Israel
1 Hear now what the Lord says: “Arise, plead your case against the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.
2 Hear, you mountains, and you firm foundations of the earth, the Lord’s indictment; for the Lord has a case against his people, and he will contend with Israel.
3 My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me.
4 For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of bondage; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5 My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab advised, and what Balaam son of Beor answered him, from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the Lord.
What Jehovah asks
6 With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God Most High? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
9 The voice of the Lord cries to the city: “It is wise to fear your name. Heed the punishment, and he who ordains it!”
10 Are there still treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a mean measure that is detestable?
11 Shall I acquit him who has dishonest scales and a bag of false weights?
12 Her rich are filled with violence, and her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongues are deceitful in their mouths.
13 Therefore I also made you weak by striking you, laying you waste because of your sins.
14 You will eat, but not be satisfied, and your misery will be in your midst; you will gather, but not save, and what you save I will give to the sword.
15 You will sow, but not reap; you will tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with the oil; and new wine, but 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 made you a desolation, and your inhabitants a laughingstock. Therefore you shall bear the reproach of my people.
Micah Chapter 7
Moral corruption of Israel
1 Woe is me! For I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, like one who gleans after the vintage, when there is no cluster left to eat; my soul longs for the firstfruits.
2 The merciful are gone from the land, and there is no one upright among mankind; everyone lies in wait for blood; each one sets a net for his brother.
3 To accomplish wickedness with his own hands, the ruler demands, and the judge decides for a bribe; and the powerful speak the desire of their hearts, and they confirm it.
4 The best of them is like a thornbush, the most upright like a brier; the day of your punishment has come, the day your watchmen foretold; now their shame will come.
5 Do not trust in a friend, nor put your confidence in a prince; beware of her who lies beside you, do not open your mouth.
6 For the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against the mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man’s enemies are those of his own household.
7 But I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
Jehovah brings light and freedom
8 Do not rejoice over me, my enemy, for though I have fallen, I will rise; though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.
9 I will bear the Lord’s anger, for I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes justice for me. He will bring me out into the light, and I will see his righteousness.
10 My enemy will see it and be covered with shame; she who said to me, “Where is the Lord your God?” My eyes will see her; now she will be trampled down like mud in the streets.
11 The day is coming when your walls will be rebuilt; on that day your boundaries will be extended.
12 On that day they will come to you from Assyria and its fortified cities, from the fortified cities to the River, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
13 The land will be desolate because of its inhabitants, because of the fruit of their deeds.
Jehovah's compassion for Israel
14 Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, who dwell alone on the mountain in fertile pastureland; let them graze in Bashan and Gilead, as in days of old.
15 I will show them wonders as on the day you came out of Egypt.
16 The nations will see and be ashamed of all your might; they will put their hands over their mouths and stop their ears.
17 They will lick the dust like a snake; like serpents of the earth, they will tremble in their dens; they will turn in fear before the Lord our God and will be afraid of you.
18 Who is a God like you, who pardons wickedness and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not retain your anger forever, because you delight to show mercy.
19 You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob, and mercy to Abraham, which you swore to our fathers from ancient times.