Micah

Introduction

Micah prophesied in Judah during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (about 750–700 b.c.), at about the same time as Isaiah. It was a time of prosperity, and Micah denounced the wealthy, who were oppressing the poor, and warned of impending judgment. The northern kingdom actually fell during Micah’s ministry, in 722, and Judah almost fell in 701 (2 Kings 18–20). The book contains three sections, which alternate between words of warning and messages of hope. Micah told of a day when there would be peace among all nations, who would then be able to “beat their swords into plowshares” (4:3), and of a royal deliverer who would save God’s people from all her enemies. This deliverer would be born in Bethlehem (5:2).

1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah aof Moresheth bin the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw cconcerning dSamaria and Jerusalem.

The Coming Destruction

2  eHear, you peoples, all of you;1

fpay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,

and glet the Lord God be a witness against you,

hthe Lord from his holy temple.

3  For behold, ithe Lord is coming out of jhis place,

and will come down and ktread upon the high places of the earth.

4  And lthe mountains will melt under him,

and the valleys will split open,

like wax before the fire,

like waters poured down a steep place.

5  All this is for mthe transgression of Jacob

and for the sins of the house of Israel.

nWhat is the transgression of Jacob?

Is it not dSamaria?

And what is othe high place of Judah?

Is it not Jerusalem?

6  Therefore I will make dSamaria pa heap in the open country,

a place for planting vineyards,

and I will pour down her stones qinto the valley

and runcover her foundations.

7  All sher carved images shall be beaten to pieces,

tall her wages shall be burned with fire,

and all her idols I will lay waste,

for from tthe fee of a prostitute she gathered them,

and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

8  uFor this I will lament and wail;

I will go vstripped and naked;

I will make lamentation wlike the jackals,

and mourning xlike the ostriches.

9  yFor her wound is incurable,

and it has come to Judah;

it has reached to the gate of my people,

to Jerusalem.

10  zTell it not in aGath;

weep not at all;

in Beth-le-aphrah

broll yourselves in the dust.

11  Pass on your way,

inhabitants of Shaphir,

cin nakedness and shame;

the inhabitants of Zaanan

do not come out;

the lamentation of Beth-ezel

shall take away from you its standing place.

12  For the inhabitants of Maroth

wait anxiously for good,

because disaster has come down dfrom the Lord

to the gate of Jerusalem.

13  Harness the steeds to the chariots,

inhabitants of eLachish;

it was the beginning of sin

to the daughter of Zion,

for in you were found

fthe transgressions of Israel.

14  Therefore you shall give parting gifts2

to gMoresheth-gath;

the houses of hAchzib shall be a deceitful thing

to the kings of Israel.

15  I will again bring ia conqueror to you,

inhabitants of hMareshah;

the glory of Israel

shall come to jAdullam.

16  kMake yourselves bald and cut off your hair,

for the children of your delight;

kmake yourselves as bald as the eagle,

for they shall go from you into exile.

Woe to the Oppressors

2 lWoe to those who devise wickedness

and work evil mon their beds!

When the morning dawns, they perform it,

because it is in the power of their hand.

2  They covet fields and nseize them,

and houses, and take them away;

they oppress a man and his house,

a man and his inheritance.

3  Therefore thus says the Lord:

behold, against othis family I am devising disaster,1

from which you cannot remove your necks,

and you pshall not walk haughtily,

qfor it will be a time of disaster.

4  In that day rthey shall take up a taunt song against you

and moan bitterly,

and say, “We are utterly ruined;

she changes the portion of my people;

show he removes it from me!

tTo an apostate he allots our fields.”

5  Therefore you will have none uto cast the line by lot

in the assembly of the Lord.

6  v“Do not preach”—thus they preach—

w“one should not preach of such things;

xdisgrace will not overtake us.”

7  Should this be said, O house of Jacob?

vHas the Lord grown impatient?2

Are these his deeds?

Do not my words do good

to him who walks uprightly?

8  But lately ymy people have risen up as an enemy;

you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly

with no thought of war.3

9  The women of my people you drive out

from their delightful houses;

from their young children you take away

my splendor forever.

10  zArise and go,

for this is no aplace to rest,

because of buncleanness that destroys

with a grievous destruction.

11  If a man should go about and cutter wind and lies,

saying, “I will preach to you dof wine and strong drink,”

he would be the preacher for this people!

12  I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob;

eI will gather fthe remnant of Israel;

I will set them together

like sheep in a fold,

hlike a flock in its pasture,

a noisy multitude of men.

13  iHe who opens the breach goes up before them;

they break through and pass the gate,

jgoing out by it.

Their king passes on before them,

kthe Lord at their head.

Rulers and Prophets Denounced

3 And I said:

lHear, you heads of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel!

mIs it not for you to know justice?—

2  you nwho hate the good and love the evil,

owho tear the skin from off my people1

and their flesh from off their bones,

3  pwho eat the flesh of my people,

and flay their skin from off them,

and break their bones in pieces

and chop them up like meat in a pot,

like flesh in a cauldron.

4  qThen they will cry to the Lord,

but he will not answer them;

rhe will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have made their deeds evil.

5  Thus says the Lord concerning sthe prophets

who lead my people astray,

twho cry “Peace”

when they have something to eat,

but declare war against him

who puts nothing into their mouths.

6  Therefore uit shall be night to you, without vision,

and darkness to you, without divination.

vThe sun shall go down on the prophets,

and the day shall be black over them;

7  wthe seers shall be disgraced,

and the diviners put to shame;

xthey shall all cover their lips,

for ythere is no answer from God.

8  But as for me, zI am filled with power,

with the Spirit of the Lord,

and with justice and might,

to declare to Jacob ahis transgression

and to Israel his sin.

9  bHear this, you heads of the house of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel,

cwho detest justice

and make crooked all that is straight,

10  dwho build Zion with blood

and Jerusalem with iniquity.

11  eIts heads give judgment for a bribe;

fits priests teach for a price;

gits prophets practice divination for money;

hyet they lean on the Lord and isay,

“Is not the Lord in the midst of us?

jNo disaster shall come upon us.”

12  Therefore because of you

kZion shall be plowed as a field;

Jerusalem lshall become a heap of ruins,

and mthe mountain of the house na wooded height.

The Mountain of the Lord

4 It shall come to pass oin the latter days

that the mountain of the house of the Lord

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and it shall be lifted up above the hills;

and peoples shall flow to it,

2  and many nations shall come, and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

to the house of the God of Jacob,

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth the law,1

and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

3  He shall judge between many peoples,

and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away;

and they shall pbeat their swords into plowshares,

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

neither shall they learn war anymore;

4  qbut they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,

rand no one shall make them afraid,

sfor the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

5  For tall the peoples walk

each in the name of its god,

but uwe will walk in the name of the Lord our God

forever and ever.

The Lord Shall Rescue Zion

6  vIn that day, declares the Lord,

wI will assemble the xlame

and gather those who have been driven away

and those whom I have afflicted;

7  and the lame I will make ythe remnant,

and those who were cast off, a strong nation;

and zthe Lord will reign over them ain Mount Zion

from this time forth and forevermore.

8  And you, O tower of the flock,

hill of the daughter of Zion,

to you shall it come,

the former dominion shall come,

kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.

9  Now why do you cry aloud?

bIs there no king in you?

cHas your counselor perished,

that dpain seized you like a woman in labor?

10  eWrithe and groan,2 O daughter of Zion,

like a woman in labor,

for fnow you shall go out from the city

and dwell in the open country;

you gshall go to Babylon.

There you shall be rescued;

hthere the Lord will redeem you

from the hand of your enemies.

11  Now imany nations

are assembled against you,

saying, “Let her be defiled,

and jlet our eyes gaze upon Zion.”

12  But kthey do not know

the thoughts of the Lord;

they do not understand his plan,

that lhe has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.

13  Arise and thresh,

O daughter of Zion,

for I will make your horn iron,

and I will make your hoofs bronze;

you shall beat in pieces many peoples;

and mshall devote3 ntheir gain to the Lord,

their wealth to othe Lord of the whole earth.

The Ruler to Be Born in Bethlehem

5 1 Now muster your troops, O daughter2 of troops;

siege is laid against us;

with a rod pthey strike the judge of Israel

on the cheek.

2  3 qBut you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

who are too little to be among the clans of rJudah,

from you shall come forth for me

one who is to be sruler in Israel,

twhose coming forth is ufrom of old,

from ancient days.

3  Therefore he shall give them up vuntil the time

when she who is in labor has given birth;

then wthe rest of his brothers shall return

to the people of Israel.

4  And he shall stand xand shepherd his flock yin the strength of the Lord