| 001:001
| 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.
|
| 001:002 | 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. |
| 001:003 | For,
behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread
upon the high places of the earth. |
| 001:004 | 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.
|
| 001:005 | 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? |
| 001:006 | 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. |
| 001:007 | 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. |
| 001:008 | 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. |
| 001:009 | For
her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate
of my people, even to Jerusalem. |
| 001:010 | Declare
ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all: in the house of Aphrah roll thyself
in the dust. |
| 001:011 | Pass
ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked: the inhabitant
of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Bethezel; he shall receive of you
his standing. |
| 001:012 | For
the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from
the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem. |
| 001:013 | 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. |
| 001:014 | Therefore
shalt thou give presents to Moreshethgath: the houses of Achzib shall be a
lie to the kings of Israel. |
| 001:015 | Yet
will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he shall come unto
Adullam the glory of Israel. |
| 001:016 | Make
thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldness as
the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee. |
|
| 002:001
| 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. | | 002:002 | 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. |
| 002:003 | 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. |
| 002:004 | 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. |
| 002:005 | Therefore
thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the
LORD. |
| 002:006 | Prophesy
ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that
they shall not take shame. |
| 002:007 | 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?
|
| 002:008 | 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. |
| 002:009 | The
women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their
children have ye taken away my glory for ever. |
| 002:010 | Arise
ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall
destroy you, even with a sore destruction. |
| 002:011 | 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.
|
| 002:012 | 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. |
| 002:013 | 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. |
|
| 003:001
| 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? | | 003:002 | Who
hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and
their flesh from off their bones; |
| 003:003 | 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. |
| 003:004 | 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. |
| 003:005 | 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. |
| 003:006 | 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. |
| 003:007 | Then
shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all
cover their lips; for there is no answer of God. |
| 003:008 | 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. |
| 003:009 | 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. |
| 003:010 | They
build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. |
| 003:011 | 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. |
| 003:012 | 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. |
|
| 004:001
| 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. | | 004:002 | 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. |
| 004:003 | 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. |
| 004:004 | 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. |
| 004:005 | 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. |
| 004:006 | 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; |
| 004:007 | 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. |
| 004:008 | 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. |
| 004:009 | Now
why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished?
for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. |
| 004:010 | 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. |
| 004:011 | Now
also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled,
and let our eye look upon Zion. |
| 004:012 | 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. |
| 004:013 | 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. |
|
| 005:001
| 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. | | 005:002 | 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. |
| 005:003 | 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.
|
| 005:004 | 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. |
| 005:005 | 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. |
| 005:006 | 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. |
| 005:007 | 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. |
| 005:008 | 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. |
| 005:009 | Thine
hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall
be cut off. |
| 005:010 | 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: |
| 005:011 | And
I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds:
|
| 005:012 | And
I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers:
|
| 005:013 | 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. |
| 005:014 | And
I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy
cities. |
| 005:015 | And
I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have
not heard. |
|
| 006:001
| Hear
ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let
the hills hear thy voice. | | 006:002 | 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.
|
| 006:003 | O
my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify
against me. |
| 006:004 | 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. |
| 006:005 | 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. |
| 006:006 | 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? |
| 006:007 | 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? |
| 006:008 | 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? |
| 006:009 | 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. |
| 006:010 | Are
there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant
measure that is abominable? |
| 006:011 | Shall
I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?
|
| 006:012 | For
the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have
spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. |
| 006:013 | Therefore
also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because
of thy sins. |
| 006:014 | 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. |
| 006:015 | 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. |
| 006:016 | 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. |
|
| 007:001
| 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.
| | 007:002 | 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.
|
| 007:003 | 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. |
| 007:004 | 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.
|
| 007:005 | 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. |
| 007:006 | 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. |
| 007:007 | Therefore
I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God
will hear me. |
| 007:008 | 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. |
| 007:009 | 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. |
| 007:010 | 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. |
| 007:011 | In
the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far
removed. |
| 007:012 | 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. |
| 007:013 | Notwithstanding
the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit
of their doings. |
| 007:014 | 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. |
| 007:015 | According
to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous
things. |
| 007:016 | The
nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their
hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. |
| 007:017 | 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. |
| 007:018 | 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. |
| 007:019 | 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. |
| 007:020 | Thou
wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast
sworn unto our fathers from the days of old. |