1 The word of the
LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and
Hezekiah, kings of
2 Hear, all you peoples!
Listen, O earth, and all that is in it!
Let the Lord GOD be a witness against you,
The Lord from His holy temple.
3
For behold, the LORD is coming out of His place;
He 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 waters poured down a steep place.
5
All this is for the transgression of Jacob
And for the sins
of the house of
What is the transgression of Jacob?
Is it not
And what are the high places of
Are they not
6
“ Therefore I will make
Places for planting a vineyard;
I will pour down her stones into the
valley,
And I will uncover her foundations.
7
All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,
And all her pay as
a harlot shall be burned with the fire;
All her idols I will lay desolate,
For she gathered it from the pay of
a harlot,
And they shall return to the pay of a
harlot.”
8 Therefore I will wail and howl,
I will go stripped and naked;
I will make a wailing like the jackals
And a mourning
like the ostriches,
9
For her wounds are incurable.
For it has come to
It has come to the
gate of My people—
To
10
Tell it not in
Weep not at all;
In Beth Aphrah[a]
Roll yourself in
the dust.
11
Pass by in naked shame, you inhabitant of Shaphir;
The inhabitant of Zaanan[b] does not go out.
Beth Ezel mourns;
Its place to stand
is taken away from you.
12
For the inhabitant of Maroth pined[c] for good,
But disaster came down from the LORD
To the gate of
13
O inhabitant of
Harness the chariot to the swift steeds
(She was the beginning of sin to the
daughter of
For the
transgressions of
14
Therefore you shall give presents to Moresheth Gath;[d]
The houses of Achzib[e]shall be a lie to the kings of
15
I will yet bring an heir to you, O inhabitant of Mareshah;[f]
The glory of
16
Make yourself bald and cut off your hair,
Because of your precious children;
Enlarge your
baldness like an eagle,
For they shall go from you into captivity.
1
Woe to those who devise iniquity,
And work out evil
on their beds!
At morning light they practice it,
Because it is in
the power of their hand.
2
They covet fields and take them by violence,
Also houses, and seize them.
So they oppress a man and his house,
A man and his
inheritance.
3 Therefore thus says the
LORD:
“ Behold, against
this family I am devising disaster,
From which you cannot remove your necks;
Nor shall you walk haughtily,
For this is an evil time.
4
In that day one shall take up a proverb against you,
And lament with a bitter lamentation,
saying:
‘ We are utterly
destroyed!
He has changed the heritage of my people;
How He has removed it from me!
To a turncoat He has divided our fields.’”
5
Therefore you will have no one to determine boundaries[a] by lot
In the assembly of
the LORD.
6 “ Do not prattle,” you
say to those who prophesy.
So they shall not prophesy to you;[b]
They shall not return insult for insult.[c]
7
You who are named the house of Jacob:
“ Is the Spirit of the LORD restricted?
Are these His doings?
Do not My words do
good
To him who walks uprightly?
8
“ Lately My people have risen up as an enemy—
You pull off the robe with the garment
From those who trust you, as they
pass by,
Like men returned from war.
9
The women of My people you cast out
From their pleasant houses;
From their children
You have taken away My glory forever.
10
“ Arise and depart,
For this is not your rest;
Because it is defiled, it shall destroy,
Yes, with utter destruction.
11
If a man should walk in a false spirit
And speak a lie, saying,
‘ I will prophesy
to you of wine and drink,’
Even he would be the prattler of this
people.
12 “ I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob,
I will surely gather the remnant of Israel;
I will put them together like sheep of the
fold,[d]
Like a flock in the midst of their pasture;
They shall make a loud noise because of so
many people.
13
The one who breaks open will come up before them;
They will break
out,
Pass through the gate,
And go out by it;
Their king will pass before them,
With the LORD at their head.”
1
And I said:
“ Hear now, O
heads of Jacob,
And you rulers of the house of
Is itnot for you to know justice?
2
You who hate good and love evil;
Who strip the skin from My people,[a]
And the flesh from their bones;
3
Who also eat the flesh of My people,
Flay their skin from them,
Break their bones,
And chop them in pieces
Like meat for the pot,
Like flesh in the caldron.”
4
Then they will cry to the LORD,
But He will not hear them;
He will even hide His face from them at
that time,
Because they have been evil in their deeds.
5
Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets
Who make my people stray;
Who chant “Peace”
While they chew with their teeth,
But who prepare war against him
Who puts nothing into their mouths:
6
“ Therefore you shall have night without vision,
And you shall have darkness without
divination;
The sun shall go down on the prophets,
And the day shall be dark for them.
7
So the seers shall be ashamed,
And the diviners
abashed;
Indeed they shall all cover their lips;
For there is no answer from God.”
8
But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the LORD,
And of justice and might,
To declare to Jacob his transgression
And to
9
Now hear this,
You heads of the
house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of
Who abhor justice
And pervert all equity,
10
Who build up
And
11
Her heads judge for a bribe,
Her priests teach for pay,
And her prophets divine for money.
Yet they lean on the LORD, and say,
“ Is not the LORD
among us?
No harm can come upon us.”
12
Therefore because of you
And the mountain of the temple[b]
Like the bare hills of the forest.
1
Now it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the
mountain of the LORD’s house
Shall be established on the top of the
mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And peoples shall flow to it.
2
Many nations shall come and say,
“ Come, and let us go up to the mountain of
the LORD,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of
And the word of
the LORD from
3
He shall judge between many peoples,
And rebuke strong nations afar off;
They shall beat their swords into
plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against
nation,
Neither shall they learn war anymore.[a]
4
But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree,
And no one shall make them afraid;
For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has
spoken.
5
For all people walk each in the name of his god,
But we will walk
in the name of the LORD our God
Forever and ever.
6 “ In that day,” says the LORD,
“ I will assemble the lame,
I will gather the outcast
And those whom I have afflicted;
7
I will make the lame a remnant,
And the outcast a strong nation;
So the LORD will reign over them in Mount
Zion
From now on, even forever.
8
And you, O tower of the flock,
The stronghold of
the daughter of
To you shall it come,
Even the former dominion shall come,
The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.”
9
Now why do you cry aloud?
Is thereno king in your midst?
Has your counselor perished?
For pangs have seized you like a woman in
labor.
10
Be in pain, and labor to bring forth,
O daughter of
Like a woman in
birth pangs.
For now you shall go forth from the city,
You shall dwell in
the field,
And to
There you shall be delivered;
There the LORD
will redeem you
From the hand of your enemies.
11
Now also many nations have gathered against you,
Who say, “Let her
be defiled,
And let our eye look upon Zion.”
12
But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD,
Nor do they understand His counsel;
For He will gather them like sheaves to the
threshing floor.
13
“ Arise and thresh, O daughter of
For I will make your horn iron,
And I will make your hooves bronze;
You shall beat in pieces many peoples;
I will consecrate their gain to the LORD,
And their substance to the Lord of the
whole earth.”
1 Now gather
yourself in troops,
O daughter of troops;
He has laid siege against us;
They will strike
the judge of
2 “ But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Though you are little among the
thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to
Me
The One to be Ruler in Israel,
Whose goings forth are from of old,
From everlasting.”
3
Therefore He shall give them up,
Until the time that she who is in
labor has given birth;
Then the remnant of His brethren
Shall return to the children of Israel.
4
And He shall stand and feed His flock
In the strength of
the LORD,
In the majesty of the name of the LORD His
God;
And they shall abide,
For now He shall be great
To the ends of the earth;
5
And this One shall be peace.
When the Assyrian comes
into our land,
And when he treads
in our palaces,
Then we will raise against him
Seven shepherds and eight princely men.
6
They shall waste with the sword the
And the
Thus He shall deliver us from the
Assyrian,
When he comes into our land
And when he treads within our borders.
7
Then the remnant of Jacob
Shall be in the
midst of many peoples,
Like dew from the LORD,
Like showers on the grass,
That tarry for no man
Nor wait for the sons of men.
8
And the remnant of Jacob
Shall be among the Gentiles,
In the midst of many peoples,
Like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
Like a young lion among flocks of sheep,
Who, if he passes through,
Both treads down and tears in pieces,
And none can deliver.
9
Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries,
And all your
enemies shall be cut off.
10
“ And it shall be in that day,” says the LORD,
“ That I will cut off your horses from your
midst
And destroy your chariots.
11
I will cut off the cities of your land
And throw down all
your strongholds.
12
I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
And you shall have
no soothsayers.
13
Your carved images I will also cut off,
And your sacred pillars from your
midst;
You shall no more worship the work of your
hands;
14
I will pluck your wooden images[a] from your midst;
Thus I will destroy your cities.
15
And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury
On the nations
that have not heard.”[b]
1
Hear now what the LORD says:
“ Arise, plead
your case before the mountains,
And let the hills hear your voice.
2
Hear, O you mountains, the LORD’s complaint,
And you strong
foundations of the earth;
For the LORD has a complaint against His
people,
And He will contend with
3
“ O My people, what have I done to you?
And how have I wearied you?
Testify against Me.
4
For I brought you up from the
I redeemed you from the house of bondage;
And I sent before
you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5
O My people, remember now
What Balak king
of Moab counseled,
And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
From Acacia Grove[a] to Gilgal,
That you may know the righteousness of the
LORD.”
6
With what shall I come before the LORD,
And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt
offerings,
With calves a year
old?
7
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
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 man, what is good;
And what does the
LORD require of you
But to do justly,
To love mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
9 The LORD’s voice
cries to the city—
Wisdom shall see Your name:
“ Hear the rod!
Who has appointed it?
10
Are there yet the treasures of wickedness
In the house of
the wicked,
And the short measure that is an
abomination?
11
Shall I count pure those with the wicked scales,
And with the bag of deceitful weights?
12
For her rich men are full of violence,
Her inhabitants have
spoken lies,
And their tongue is deceitful in their
mouth.
13
“ Therefore I will also make you sick by
striking you,
By making you desolate because of
your sins.
14
You shall eat, but not be satisfied;
Hunger[b]shall be in your midst.
You may carry some away,[c] but shall not save them;
And what you do rescue I will give over to
the sword.
15
“ You shall sow, but not reap;
You shall tread the olives, but not anoint
yourselves with oil;
And make sweet wine, but not drink
wine.
16
For the statutes of Omri are kept;
All the works of Ahab’s house are done;
And you walk in
their counsels,
That I may make you a desolation,
And your inhabitants a hissing.
Therefore you shall bear the reproach of My people.”[d]
1
Woe is me!
For I am like those who gather summer
fruits,
Like those who
glean vintage grapes;
There is no cluster to eat
Of the first-ripe fruit which my
soul desires.
2
The faithful man has perished from the earth,
And there is
no one upright among men.
They all lie in wait for blood;
Every man hunts
his brother with a net.
3
That they may successfully do evil with both hands—
The prince asks for
gifts,
The judge seeks a bribe,
And the great man utters his evil
desire;
So they scheme together.
4
The best of them is like a brier;
The most upright is
sharper than a thorn hedge;
The day of your watchman and your punishment
comes;
Now shall be their perplexity.
5
Do not trust in a friend;
Do not put your confidence in a companion;
Guard the doors of your mouth
From her who lies
in your bosom.
6
For son dishonors father,
Daughter rises against her mother,
Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
A man’s enemies are
the men of his own household.
7
Therefore I will look to the LORD;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
My God will hear me.
8 Do not rejoice over me, my enemy;
When I fall, I
will arise;
When I sit in darkness,
The LORD will be a light to me.
9
I will bear the indignation of the LORD,
Because I have
sinned against Him,
Until He pleads my case
And executes justice for me.
He will bring me forth to the light;
I will see His righteousness.
10
Then she who is my enemy will see,
And shame will cover her 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
In the day when your walls are to be built,
In that day the decree shall go far
and wide.[a]
12
In that day they[b] shall come to you
From Assyria and the fortified cities,[c]
From the fortress[d] to the River,[e]
From sea to sea,
And mountain to mountain.
13
Yet the land shall be desolate
Because of those who dwell in it,
And for the fruit of their deeds.
14 Shepherd Your people
with Your staff,
The flock of Your heritage,
Who dwell solitarily in a woodland,
In the midst of
Let them feed in Bashan and
As in days of old.
15
“ As in the days when you came out of the
I will show them[f] wonders.”
16
The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
They shall put their hand over their
mouth;
Their ears shall be deaf.
17
They shall lick the dust like a serpent;
They shall crawl
from their holes like snakes of the earth.
They shall be afraid of the LORD our God,
And shall fear
because of You.
18
Who is a God like You,
Pardoning iniquity
And passing over
the transgression of the remnant of His heritage?
He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in mercy.
19
He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue
our iniquities.
You will cast all our[g] sins
Into the depths of
the sea.
20
You will give truth to Jacob
And mercy to Abraham,
Which You have sworn to our fathers
From days of old.