Micah 6–7

Yahweh Brings a Charge against Israel

6Hear now what Yahweh says:

“Arise! Plead your case with the mountains,

and let the hills hear your voice.”

²Hear, O mountains, the indictment of Yahweh,

and you eternal foundations of the earth,

for Yahweh has an indictment against his people,

and against Israel he contends.

³“O my people, what have I done to you,

and how have I wearied you? Answer me!

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

and from the house of slavery I redeemed you.

And I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam before you.

⁵O my people, remember what Balak the king of Moab devised,

and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,

and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,

so that you might know the righteous acts of Yahweh.”

What Does Yahweh Require?

⁶With what shall I approach Yahweh,

and bow down to God on high?

Shall I approach him with burnt offerings,

with bull calves a year old?^a

⁷Will Yahweh be pleased with thousands of rams,

with myriads of rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

⁸He has told you, O mortal, what is good,

and what does Yahweh ask from you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?

The Destruction of the Wicked

⁹The voice of Yahweh calls to the city

(it is sound judgment to fear your name):

“Hear, O staff!^b Now who has appointed it?

¹⁰Is there any longer a man in the house of the wicked

treasures of wickedness,

and the ephah of scarcity which is accursed?^c

¹¹Shall I regard as pure the one with scales of wickedness,

and with a bag of deceitful weights?

¹²Because her rich are full of violence,

and her inhabitants speak lies,

and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

¹³And I also have made you sick by striking you down,^d

making you desolate because of your sins.

¹⁴You yourself will eat but not be satisfied;

your hunger will be in your midst,

and you will put away, but you will not save,

and what you save I will hand over to the sword.

¹⁵You yourself will sow, but you will not reap;

you will tread olives, but you will not anoint yourself with oil;

you will tread grapes, but you will not drink wine.

¹⁶For you have observed the regulations of Omri

and all the works of the house of Ahab.

And you have walked in their counsels,

so that I am making you a desolation

and your inhabitants an object of scorn.

So you will bear the scorn of my people.

Wait Upon Yahweh

7Woe is me! For I have become

like the gatherings of summer,

like the gleanings of the grape harvest,

when there is no cluster of grapes to eat

or early ripened fruit that my soul desires.

²The faithful person has perished from the land,

and there is none who is upright among humankind.

All of them lie in wait for blood;

each hunts his brother with a net.

³Their hands are upon evil, to do it well;

the official and the judge ask for the bribe,

and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;

and they weave it together.

⁴The best of them is like a brier;

the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.

The day of your watchman, your punishment, has come;

now their confusion will come.

⁵Do not put faith in a friend;

put no trust in a close friend.

Guard the doorways of your mouth

from the one who lies in your lap.

⁶For a son treats a father with contempt;

a daughter rises up against her mother,

a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;

the enemies of a man are the men of his own house.

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

I will wait for the God of my salvation.

My God will hear me.

⁸You should not rejoice over me, O my enemy!

When I fall I will stand up;

when I sit in darkness

Yahweh will be a light for me.

⁹I will bear the rage of Yahweh,

for I have sinned against him,

until he pleads my cause

and executes my justice.

He will bring me out to the light;

I will see his righteousness.

¹⁰Then my enemy will see,

and shame will cover her who said to me,

“Where is Yahweh your God?”

My eyes will look upon her;

now she will become a trampling place,

like mud in the streets.

¹¹A day for building your walls;

on that day he will extend your boundary.

¹²On that day he will come to you

from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,

and from Egypt to the River,

and from sea to sea

and mountain to mountain.

¹³But the earth will be a desolation

because of its inhabitants,

for the fruit of their deeds.

¹⁴Shepherd your people with your staff,

the flock of your inheritance,

those dwelling alone in a forest

in the midst of Carmel.

Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,

as in the days of old.

¹⁵As in the days when you came out

from the land of Egypt

I will show him wondrous things.

¹⁶The nations will see and be ashamed

because of all their might.

They will lay the hand on the mouth;

their ears will be deaf.

¹⁷They will lick the dust like the serpent,

like the crawling things of the earth.

They will come trembling from their strongholds

to Yahweh our God.

Let them fear and be afraid of you.

¹⁸Who is a God like you, forgiving sin

and passing over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance?

He does not retain his anger forever,

for he delights in loyal love.

¹⁹He will again have compassion^a on us;

he will trample our iniquities.

And you will hurl all their sins

in the depths of the sea.

²⁰You will show faithfulness to Jacob,

and loyal love to Abraham,

as you have sworn to our ancestors^b

from the days of old.