1:1 |
The
word of the Lord which came to Micah the Morashtite, in the days of Jotham,
Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah: his vision about Samaria and
Jerusalem. |
1:2 |
Give
ear, you peoples, all of you; give attention, O earth and everything in it:
let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from his holy Temple. |
1:3 |
For
see, the Lord is coming out from his place, and will come down, stepping on
the high places of the earth. |
1:4 |
And
the mountains will be turned to water under him, and the deep valleys will be
broken open, like wax before the fire, like waters flowing down a slope. |
1:5 |
All
this is because of the wrongdoing of Jacob and the sins of the children of
Israel. What is the wrongdoing of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the
high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem? |
1:6 |
So
I will make Samaria into a field and the plantings of a vine-garden: I will
send its stones falling down into the valley, uncovering its bases. |
1:7 |
And
all her pictured images will be hammered into bits, and all the payments for
her loose ways will be burned with fire, and all the images of her gods I
will make waste: for with the price of a loose woman she got them together,
and as the price of a loose woman will they be given back. |
1:8 |
For
this I will be full of sorrow and give cries of grief; I will go uncovered
and unclothed: I will give cries of grief like the jackals and will be in
sorrow like the ostriches. |
1:9 |
For
her wounds may not be made well: for it has come even to Judah, stretching up
to the doorway of my people, even to Jerusalem. |
1:10 |
Give
no word of it in Gath, let there be no weeping at all: at Beth-le-aphrah be
rolling in the dust. |
1:11 |
Be
uncovered and go away, you who are living in Shaphir: the one living in
Zaanan has not come out of her town; Beth-ezel is taken away from its base,
even from its resting-place. |
1:12 |
For
the one living in Maroth is waiting for good: for evil has come down from the
Lord to the doorways of Jerusalem. |
1:13 |
Let
the war-carriage be yoked to the quick-running horse, you who are living in
Lachish: she was the first cause of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the
wrongdoings of Israel were seen in you. |
1:14 |
For
this cause give a parting offering to Moresheth-gath: the daughter of Achzib
will be a deceit to the king of Israel. |
1:15 |
Even
now will the taker of your heritage come to you, you who are living in
Mareshah: the glory of Israel will come to destruction for ever. |
1:16 |
Let
your head be uncovered and your hair cut off in sorrow for the children of
your delight: let the hair be pulled from your head like an eagle's; for they
have been taken away from you as prisoners. |
2:1 |
A
curse on the designers of evil, working on their beds! in the morning light
they do it, because it is in their power. |
2:2 |
They
have a desire for fields and take them by force; and for houses and take them
away: they are cruel to a man and his family, even to a man and his
heritage. |
2:3 |
For
this cause the Lord has said, See, against this family I am purposing an evil
from which you will not be able to take your necks away, and you will be
weighted down by it; for it is an evil time. |
2:4 |
In
that day this saying will be said about you, and this song of grief will be
made: The heritage of my people is measured out, and there is no one to give
it back; those who have made us prisoners have taken our fields from us, and
complete destruction has come to us. |
2:5 |
For
this cause you will have no one to make the decision by the measuring line in
the meeting of the Lord. |
2:6 |
Let
not words like these be dropped, they say: Shame and the curse will not come
to the family of Jacob! |
2:7 |
Is
the Lord quickly made angry? are these his doings? do not his words do good
to his people Israel? |
2:8 |
As
for you, you have become haters of those who were at peace with you: you take
the clothing of those who go by without fear, and make them prisoners of
war. |
2:9 |
The
women of my people you have been driving away from their dearly loved
children; from their young ones you are taking my glory for ever. |
2:10 |
Up!
and go; for this is not your rest: because it has been made unclean, the
destruction ordered will come on you. |
2:11 |
If
a man came with a False spirit of deceit, saying, I will be a prophet to you
of wine and strong drink: he would be the sort of prophet for this
people. |
2:12 |
I
will certainly make all of you, O Jacob, come together; I will get together
the rest of Israel; I will put them together like the sheep in their circle:
like a flock in their green field; they will be full of the noise of men. |
2:13 |
The
opener of the way will go up before them: forcing their way out they will go
on to the doorway and out through it: their king will go on before them, and
the Lord at their head. |
3:1 |
And
I said, Give ear, now, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the people of Israel:
is it not for you to have knowledge of what is right? |
3:2 |
You
who are haters of good and lovers of evil, pulling off their skin from them
and their flesh from their bones; |
3:3 |
Like
meat they take the flesh of my people for their food, skinning them and
crushing their bones, yes, cutting them up as if for the pot, like flesh
inside the cooking-pot. |
3:4 |
Then
they will be crying to the Lord for help, but he will not give them an
answer: yes, he will keep his face veiled from them at that time, because
their acts have been evil. |
3:5 |
This
is what the Lord has said about the prophets by whom my people have been
turned from the right way; who, biting with their teeth, say, Peace; and if
anyone puts nothing in their mouths they make ready for war against him. |
3:6 |
For
this cause it will be night for you, without a vision; and it will be dark
for you, without knowledge of the future; the sun will go down over the
prophets, and the day will be black over them. |
3:7 |
And
the seers will be shamed, and the readers of the future will be at a loss,
all of them covering their lips; for there is no answer from God. |
3:8 |
But
I truly am full of the spirit of the Lord, with power of judging and with
strength to make clear to Jacob his wrongdoing and to Israel his sin. |
3:9 |
Then
give ear to this, you heads of the children of Jacob, you rulers of the
children of Israel, hating what is right, twisting what is straight. |
3:10 |
They
are building up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with evil-doing. |
3:11 |
Its
heads take rewards for judging, and the priests take payment for teaching,
and the prophets get silver for reading the future: but still, supporting
themselves on the Lord, they say, Is not the Lord among us? no evil will
overtake us. |
3:12 |
For
this reason, Zion will be ploughed like a field because of you, and Jerusalem
will become a mass of broken walls, and the mountain of the house like a high
place in the woods. |
4:1 |
But
in the last days it will come about that the mountain of the Lord's house
will be placed on the top of the mountains, and be lifted up over the hills;
and peoples will be flowing to it. |
4:2 |
And
a number of nations will go 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 give us
knowledge of his ways and we will be guided by his word: for from Zion the
law will go out, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. |
4:3 |
And
he will be judge between great peoples, and strong nations far away will be
ruled by his decisions; their swords will be hammered into plough-blades and
their spears into vine-knives: nations will no longer be lifting up their
swords against one another, and knowledge of war will have gone for
ever. |
4:4 |
But
every man will be seated under his vine and under his fig-tree, and no one
will be a cause of fear to them: for the mouth of the Lord of armies has said
it. |
4:5 |
For
all the peoples will be walking, every one in the name of his god, and we
will be walking in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. |
4:6 |
In
that day, says the Lord, I will get together her who goes with uncertain
steps, I will get together her who has been sent away, and her on whom I have
sent evil; |
4:7 |
And
I will make her whose steps were uncertain a small band, and her who was
feeble a strong nation: and the Lord will be their King in Mount Zion from
now and for ever. |
4:8 |
And
you, O tower of the flock, Ophel of the daughter of Zion, to you it will
come, even the earlier authority, the kingdom of the daughter of
Jerusalem. |
4:9 |
Now
why are you crying so loudly? is there no king in you? has destruction come
on your wise helper? so that pains have taken you like the pains of a woman
in childbirth: |
4:10 |
Be
in pain, make sounds of grief, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in
childbirth: for now you will go out of the town, living in the open country,
and will come even to Babylon; there you will have salvation; there the Lord
will make you free from the hands of your haters. |
4:11 |
And
now a number of nations have come together against you, and they say, Let her
be made unclean and let our eyes see the fate of Zion. |
4:12 |
But
they have no knowledge of the thoughts of the Lord, their minds are not able
to see his purpose: for he has got them together like stems of grain to the
crushing-floor. |
4:13 |
Up!
and let the grain be crushed, O daughter of Zion, for I will make your horn
iron and your feet brass, and a number of peoples will be broken by you, and
you will give up their increase to the Lord and their wealth to the Lord of
all the earth. |
5:1 |
Now
you will give yourselves deep wounds for grief; they will put up a wall round
us: they will give the judge of Israel a blow on the face with a rod. |
5:2 |
And
you, Beth-lehem Ephrathah, the least among the families of Judah, out of you
one will come to me who is to be ruler in Israel; whose going out has been
purposed from time past, from the eternal days. |
5:3 |
For
this cause he will give them up till the time when she who is with child has
given birth: then the rest of his brothers will come back to the children of
Israel. |
5:4 |
And
he will take his place and give food to his flock in the strength of the
Lord, in the glory of the name of the Lord his God; and their resting-place
will be safe: for now he will be great to the ends of the earth. |
5:5 |
And
this will be our peace: when the Assyrian comes into our country and his feet
are in our land, then we will put up against him seven keepers of the flocks
and eight chiefs among men. |
5:6 |
And
they will make waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of
Nimrod with the edge of the sword: he will give us salvation from the
Assyrian when he comes into our country, when his feet come inside the limit
of our land. |
5:7 |
And
the rest of Jacob will be among the mass of peoples like dew from the Lord,
like showers on the grass, which may not be kept back by man, or be waiting
for the sons of men. |
5:8 |
And
the rest of Jacob will be among the nations, in the middle of the mass of
peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the woods, like a young lion among
the flocks of sheep: if he goes through, they will be crushed under foot and
pulled to bits, and there will be no saviour. |
5:9 |
Your
hand is lifted up against those who are against you, and all your haters will
be cut off. |
5:10 |
And
it will come about in that day, says the Lord, that I will take away your
horses from you, and will give your war-carriages to destruction: |
5:11 |
I
will have the towns of your land cut off and all your strong places pulled
down: |
5:12 |
I
will put an end to your use of secret arts, and you will have no more readers
of signs: |
5:13 |
And
I will have your images and your pillars cut off from you; and you will no
longer give worship to the work of your hands. |
5:14 |
I
will have your Asherahs pulled up from among you: and I will send destruction
on your images. |
5:15 |
And
my punishment will be effected on the nations with such burning wrath as they
have not had word of. |
6:1 |
Give
ear now to the words of the Lord: Up! put forward your cause before the
mountains, let your voice be sounding among the hills. |
6:2 |
Give
ear, O you mountains, to the Lord's cause, and take note, you bases of the
earth: for the Lord has a cause against his people, and he will take it up
with Israel. |
6:3 |
O
my people, what have I done to you? how have I been a weariness to you? give
answer against me. |
6:4 |
For
I took you up out of the land of Egypt and made you free from the
prison-house; I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. |
6:5 |
O
my people, keep in mind now what was designed by Balak, king of Moab, and the
answer which Balaam, son of Beor, gave him; the events, from Shittim to
Gilgal, so that you may be certain of the upright acts of the Lord. |
6:6 |
With
what am I to come before the Lord and go with bent head before the high God?
am I to come before him with burned offerings, with young oxen a year
old? |
6:7 |
Will
the Lord be pleased with thousands of sheep or with ten thousand rivers of
oil? am I to give my first child for my wrongdoing, the fruit of my body for
the sin of my soul? |
6:8 |
He
has made clear to you, O man, what is good; and what is desired from you by
the Lord; only doing what is right, and loving mercy, and walking without
pride before your God. |
6:9 |
The
voice of the Lord is crying out to the town: Give ear, you tribes and the
meeting of the town. |
6:10 |
Am
I to let the stores of the evil-doer go out of my memory, and the short
measure, which is cursed? |
6:11 |
Is
it possible for me to let wrong scales and the bag of False weights go
without punishment? |
6:12 |
For
its men of wealth are cruel, and its people have said what is not true, and
their tongue is False in their mouth. |
6:13 |
So
I have made a start with your punishment; I have made you waste because of
your sins. |
6:14 |
You
will have food, but not enough; your shame will be ever with you: you will
get your goods moved, but you will not take them away safely; and what you do
take away I will give to the sword. |
6:15 |
You
will put in seed, but you will not get in the grain; you will be crushing
olives, but your bodies will not be rubbed with the oil; and you will get in
the grapes, but you will have no wine. |
6:16 |
For
you have kept the laws of Omri and all the works of the family of Ahab, and
you have been guided by their designs: so that I might make you a cause of
wonder and your people a cause of hisses; and the shame of my people will be
on you. |
7:1 |
Sorrow
is mine! for I am as when they have got in the summer fruits, like the last
of the grapes: there is nothing for food, not even an early fig for my
desire. |
7:2 |
The
good man is gone from the earth, there is no one upright among men: they are
all waiting secretly for blood, every man is going after his brother with a
net. |
7:3 |
Their
hands are made ready to do evil; the ruler makes requests for money, and the
judge is looking for a reward; and the great man gives decisions at his
pleasure, and the right is twisted. |
7:4 |
The
best of them is like a waste plant, and their upright ones are like a wall of
thorns. Sorrow! the day of their fate has come; now will trouble come on
them. |
7:5 |
Put
no faith in a friend, do not let your hope be placed in a relation: keep
watch on the doors of your mouth against her who is resting on your
breast. |
7:6 |
For
the son puts shame on his father, the daughter goes against her mother and
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's haters are those
of his family. |
7:7 |
But
as for me, I am looking to the Lord; I am waiting for the God of my
salvation: the ears of my God will be open to me. |
7:8 |
Do
not be glad because of my sorrow, O my hater: after my fall I will be lifted
up; when I am seated in the dark, the Lord will be a light to me. |
7:9 |
I
will undergo the wrath of the Lord, because of my sin against him; till he
takes up my cause and does what is right for me: when he makes me come out
into the light, I will see his righteousness; |
7:10 |
And
my hater will see it and be covered with shame; she who said to me, Where is
the Lord your God? my eyes will see their desire effected on her, now she
will be crushed under foot like the dust of the streets. |
7:11 |
A
day for building your walls! in that day will your limits be stretched far
and wide. |
7:12 |
In
that day they will come to you from Assyria and the towns of Egypt, and from
Egypt even to the River, and from sea to sea and from mountain to
mountain. |
7:13 |
But
the land will become a waste because of its people, as the fruit of their
works. |
7:14 |
Keep
your people safe with your rod, the flock of your heritage, living by
themselves in the woods in the middle of Carmel: let them get their food in
Bashan and Gilead as in the past. |
7:15 |
As
in the days when you came out from the land of Egypt, let us see things of
wonder. |
7:16 |
The
nations will see and be shamed because of all their strength; they will put
their hands on their mouths, their ears will be stopped. |
7:17 |
They
will take dust as their food like a snake, like the things which go flat on
the earth; they will come shaking with fear out of their secret places: they
will come with fear to the Lord our God, full of fear because of you. |
7:18 |
Who
is a God like you, offering forgiveness for evil-doing and overlooking the
sins of the rest of his heritage? he does not keep his wrath for ever,
because his delight is in mercy. |
7:19 |
He
will again have pity on us; he will put our sins under his feet: and you will
send all our sins down into the heart of the sea. |
7:20 |
You
will make clear your good faith to Jacob and your mercy to Abraham, as you
gave your oath to our fathers from times long past. |
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