Micah

¹word that came to Micah of Morasheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

²Hear, you peoples, all of you!

³For behold, Yahweh comes out of his place,

⁴The mountains melt under him,

⁵“All this is for the disobedience of Jacob,

⁶Therefore I will make Samaria like a rubble heap of the field,

⁷All her idols will be beaten to pieces,

⁸For this I will lament and wail.

⁹For her wounds are incurable;

¹⁰Don’t tell it in Gath.

¹¹Pass on, inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame.

¹²For the inhabitant of Maroth waits anxiously for good,

¹³Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitant of Lachish.

¹⁴Therefore you will give a parting gift to Moresheth Gath.

¹⁵I will yet bring a conqueror to you, inhabitants of Mareshah.

¹⁶Shave your heads,

¹Woe to those who devise iniquity

²They covet fields and seize them,

³Therefore Yahweh says:

⁴In that day they will take up a parable against you,

⁵Therefore you will have no one who divides the land by lot in Yahweh’s assembly.

⁶“Don’t prophesy!”—they prophesy—

⁷Shall it be said, O house of Jacob,

⁸But lately my people have risen up as an enemy.

⁹You drive the women of my people out from their pleasant houses;

¹⁰Arise, and depart!

¹¹If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies, saying,

¹²I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob.

¹³He who breaks open the way goes up before them.

¹I said,

²You who hate the good,

³who also eat the flesh of my people,

⁴Then they will cry to Yahweh,

⁵Yahweh says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray—for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, “Peace!” and whoever doesn’t provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him:

⁶“Therefore night is over you, with no vision,

⁷The seers shall be disappointed,

⁸But as for me, I am full of power by Yahweh’s Spirit,

⁹Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Jacob,

¹⁰who build up Zion with blood,

¹¹Her leaders judge for bribes,

¹²Therefore Zion for your sake will be plowed like a field,

¹But in the latter days,

²Many nations will go and say,

³and he will judge between many peoples,

⁴But every man will sit under his vine and under his fig tree.

⁵Indeed all the nations may walk in the name of their gods,

⁶“In that day,” says Yahweh,

⁷and I will make that which was lame a remnant,

⁸You, tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion,

⁹Now why do you cry out aloud?

¹⁰Be in pain, and labor to give birth, daughter of Zion,

¹¹Now many nations have assembled against you, that say,

¹²But they don’t know the thoughts of Yahweh,

¹³Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion,

¹Now you shall gather yourself in troops,

²But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

³Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth.

⁴He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of Yahweh,

⁵He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land

⁶They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword,

⁷The remnant of Jacob will be among many peoples

⁸The remnant of Jacob will be among the nations,

⁹Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries,

¹⁰“It will happen in that day”, says Yahweh,

¹¹I will cut off the cities of your land

¹²I will destroy witchcraft from your hand.

¹³I will cut off your engraved images and your pillars from among you;

¹⁴I will uproot your Asherah poles from among you;

¹⁵I will execute vengeance in anger

¹Listen now to what Yahweh says:

²Hear, you mountains, Yahweh’s indictment,

³My people, what have I done to you?

⁴For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt,

⁵My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised,

⁶How shall I come before Yahweh,

⁷Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams?

⁸He has shown you, O man, what is good.

⁹Yahweh’s voice calls to the city—

¹⁰Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked,

¹¹Shall I tolerate dishonest scales,

¹²Her rich men are full of violence,

¹³Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound.

¹⁴You shall eat, but not be satisfied.

¹⁵You will sow, but won’t reap.

¹⁶For the statutes of Omri are kept,

¹Misery is mine!

²The godly man has perished out of the earth,

³Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently.

⁴The best of them is like a brier.

⁵Don’t trust in a neighbor.

⁶For the son dishonors the father,

⁷But as for me, I will look to Yahweh.

⁸Don’t rejoice against me, my enemy.

⁹I will bear the indignation of Yahweh,

¹⁰Then my enemy will see it,

¹¹A day to build your walls!

¹²In that day they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,

¹³Yet the land will be desolate because of those who dwell therein,

¹⁴Shepherd your people with your staff,

¹⁵“As in the days of your coming out of the land of Egypt,

¹⁶The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might.

¹⁷They will lick the dust like a serpent.

¹⁸Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity,

¹⁹He will again have compassion on us.

²⁰You will give truth to Jacob,