*The word of the Lord that came to aMicah bthe Morasthite cin the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw dconcerning eSamaria and Jerusalem.

2  †fHear, all ye people;

gHearken, O earth, and †all that therein is:

And hlet the Lord God be witness against you,

iThe Lord from khis holy temple.

3  lFor, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of lmhis place,

And will come down, and notread nupon the high places of the earth.

4  And pthe mountains shall be molten under him,

And the valleys shall be cleft,

qAs wax before the fire,

And as the waters that are rpoured down †a steep place.

5  For rrthe transgression of Jacob is all this,

And for rrthe sins of the house of Israel.

What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not eSamaria?

And what are sthe high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?

6  Therefore I will make eSamaria tas an heap of the field,

And as plantings of a vineyard:

And I will rpour down the stones thereof uinto the valley,

And vI will discover the foundations thereof.

7  And all the graven images thereof wshall be beaten to pieces,

And all xthe hires thereof shall be burned with the fire,

And all the idols thereof will I lay desolate:

For she gathered it xof the hire of an harlot,

And they shall return to the hire of an harlot.

8  yTherefore I will zwail and howl,

I will go astripped and bnaked:

I will make a wailing like cdthe dragons,

And mourning as cethe †owls.

9  For ||fher wound is incurable;

For it is come unto Judah;

gHe is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

10  hDeclare ye it not at iGath, weep ye not at all:

In the house of ||kAphrah lroll thyself in the dust.

11  Pass ye away, ||thou †inhabitant of Saphir, nhaving thy shame naked:

The †inhabitant of ||Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of ||Beth-ezel;

He shall receive of you his standing.

12  For the †inhabitant of pMaroth ||qwaited carefully for good:

But revil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem.

13  O thou †inhabitant of sLachish, bind the chariot to tthe swift beast:

She is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion:

For uthe transgressions of Israel were found in thee.

14  Therefore shalt thou give vpresents ||to wMoresheth-gath:

The houses of ||xAchzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel.

15  xxYet will I bring an heir unto thee, O †inhabitant of xMareshah:

||He shall come unto yAdullam the glory of Israel.

16  zMake thee bald, and apoll thee for bthy delicate children;

zEnlarge thy baldness cas the eagle;

For dthey are gone into captivity from thee.

2 *Woe to them athat devise iniquity, and work evil aupon their beds!

When the morning is light, they practise it,

Because bit is in the power of their hand.

2  And they covet cfields, and take them by violence;

And chouses, and take them away:

So they ||oppress a man and his house,

Even a man and his heritage.

3  Therefore thus saith the Lord;

Behold, against dthis family edo I devise an evil,

fFrom which ye shall not remove your necks;

Neither shall ye go haughtily:

gFor this time is evil.

4  In that day shall one htake up ia parable against you,

And lament †with a doleful lamentation,

And say, We be utterly spoiled:

kHe hath changed the portion of my people:

kHow hath he removed it from me!

||lTurning away he hath divided our fields.

5  Therefore thou shalt have none that shall mcast a cord nby lot

In the congregation of the Lord.

6  ||†oProphesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy:

pThey shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame.

7  O thou that art named the house of Jacob,

Is the spirit of the Lord ||straitened?

qAre these his doings?

Do not my words do good to him that walketh †uprightly?

8  sEven †of late my people is risen up as an enemy:

Ye pull off rvthe robe †with the garment

sFrom them that pass by securely as men averse from war.

9  sThe ||women of my people have ye cast out from their upleasant houses;

sFrom their children have ye taken away vmy glory for ever.

10  Arise ye, and depart; for this is not wyour rest:

Because xit is polluted, it shall ydestroy you, even with a zsore destruction.

11  If a man ||bwalking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, csaying,

I will dprophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink;

eHe shall even be dthe prophet of this people.

12  fI will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee;

fI will surely ggather hthe remnant of Israel;

I will put them together as the sheep of iBozrah,

As gthe flock in the midst of jtheir fold:

kThey shall lmake great noise by reason of the multitude of kmen.

13  mThe breaker is come up before them:

They have broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it:

And ntheir king shall pass before them,

And othe Lord on the head of them.

3 *And I said, aHear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob,

aAnd ye bprinces of the house of Israel;

cIs it not for you dto know judgment?

2  Who hate the good, and love the evil;

eWho pluck off their skin from off them,

And their flesh from off their bones;

3  eWho also feat the flesh of my people,

And flay their skin from off them;

And gthey break their bones,

And hchop them in pieces, as for the pot,

And ias flesh within kthe caldron.

4  lThen shall they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them:

mHe will even hide his face from them at that time,

As they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.

5  Thus saith the Lord concerning nothe prophets that make my people err,

pThat bite with their teeth, and nqcry, Peace;

And rhe that putteth not into their mouths,

They even sprepare war against him.

6  Therefore tnight shall be unto you, u†that ye shall not have a vision;

And uit shall be dark unto you, t†that ye shall not vdivine;

And wthe sun shall go down over the prophets,

And wthe day shall be dark over them.

7  Then shall the seers xbe ashamed, and vxthe diviners xconfounded:

Yea, they shall all ycover their †lips;

For zthere is no answer of God.

8  But truly aI am full of power by the spirit of the Lord,

And of judgment, and of might,

bTo declare unto Jacob his transgression,

bAnd to Israel his sin.

9  cHear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob,

cAnd princes of the house of Israel,

That abhor judgment, and dpervert all equity.

10  eThey build up Zion fwith †blood,

And Jerusalem with iniquity.

11  gThe heads thereof judge for reward,

And hthe priests thereof teach for hire,

And hithe prophets thereof vdivine for money:

Yet will they klean upon the Lord, †and say,

lIs not the Lord among us?

mNone evil can come upon us.

12  Therefore nshall Zion nnfor your sake be plowed as a field,

noAnd Jerusalem shall become heaps,

nAnd pthe mountain of the house qas the high places of the forest.