Micah 1–3

CHAPTER 1

Calamity in Israel and Judah

¹The ^aword of ¹Yahweh which came to ^bMicah of Moresheth in the days of ^cJotham, ^dAhaz, and ^eHezekiah, kings of Judah, which he beheld concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

²Hear, O peoples, all of ¹you;

^aGive heed, O earth, as well as its fullness,

And let Lord Yahweh be a ^bwitness against you,

The Lord from His holy temple.

³For behold, Yahweh is ^agoing forth from His place.

He will come down and ^btread on the high places of the ¹earth.

^4aThe mountains will melt under Him,

And the valleys will be split,

Like wax before the fire,

Like water poured down a steep place.

⁵All this is for the transgression of Jacob

And for the sins of the house of Israel.

What is the ^atransgression of Jacob?

Is it not ^bSamaria?

What is the ^chigh ¹place of Judah?

Is it not Jerusalem?

⁶So I will make Samaria a ^aheap of ruins in the field,

^bPlanting places for a vineyard.

And I will ^cpour her stones down into the valley

And will ^dlay bare her foundations.

⁷And all of her ^agraven images will be smashed,

And all of her earnings will be burned with fire

And all of her idols I will make desolate,

For she collected them from a ^bharlot’s earnings,

And to the earnings of a harlot they will return.

⁸Because of this I must lament and wail;

I must go ^abarefoot and naked;

I must make a lament like the ^bjackals

And a mourning like the ostriches.

⁹For her ^1awound is incurable,

For ^bit has come to Judah;

It has reached the ^cgate of my people,

Even to Jerusalem.

^10aTell it not in Gath,

Weep not at all.

At ¹Beth-le-aphrah roll yourself in the dust.

¹¹¹Pass on by, inhabitant of ²Shaphir, in ^ashameful nakedness.

The inhabitant of ^3bZaanan does not go out.

The lamentation of ⁴Beth-ezel: “He will take from you its ⁵support.”

¹²For the inhabitant of ¹Maroth

Writhes ^ain waiting for good

Because a ²calamity has come down from Yahweh

To the ^bgate of Jerusalem.

¹³Harness the chariot to the team of horses,

O inhabitant of ^aLachish—

She was the beginning of sin

To the daughter of Zion—

Because in you were found

The ^btransgressions of Israel.

¹⁴Therefore you will give parting ^agifts

On behalf of ¹Moresheth-gath;

The houses of ^2bAchzib will become a ^cdeception

To the kings of Israel.

¹⁵Moreover, I will bring on you

The one who takes possession,

O inhabitant of ^1aMareshah.

The glory of Israel will enter ^bAdullam.

¹⁶Make yourself ^abald and cut off your hair,

Because of the children of your delight;

Extend your baldness like the eagle,

For they will ^bgo from you into exile.

CHAPTER 2

An Evil Time

¹Woe to those who ^adevise wickedness,

Who work out evil on their beds!

^bWhen the light of the morning comes, they do it,

For it is in the ^cpower of their hands.

²And they ^acovet fields and then ^btear them away,

And houses, and take them away.

And they ^coppress a man and his house,

A man and his inheritance.

³Therefore thus says Yahweh,

“Behold, I am ^adevising against this ^bfamily an evil demise

From which you ^ccannot remove your necks;

And you will not walk ^dhaughtily,

For it will be an ^eevil time.

⁴“On that day they will ^atake up against you a ¹taunt

And ^2butter a bitter wailing and say,

‘We are completely ^cdevastated!

He exchanges the portion of my people;

How He removes it from me!

To the faithless one, He ^dapportions our fields.’

⁵“Therefore you will have no one ^1astretching a measuring line

For you by lot in the assembly of Yahweh.

⁶‘^aDo not speak, dripping out words,’ they say while dripping out words.

But if ¹they do ^bnot drip out words concerning these things,

^cDishonor will not be turned back.

⁷“Is it being said, O house of Jacob:

‘Is the Spirit of Yahweh ^aimpatient?

Are these His deeds?’

Do not My words ^bdo good

To the one ^cwalking uprightly?

⁸“¹And recently My people have arisen as an ^aenemy—

You ^bstrip the ²robe off the garment

From ^cunsuspecting passers-by,

From those returned from war.

⁹“The women of My people you ^adrive out,

Each one from her pleasant house.

From her infants you take My ^bsplendor forever.

¹⁰“Arise and go,

For this is no place ^aof rest

Because of the ^buncleanness that wreaks destruction,

A painful destruction.

¹¹“If a man walking after wind and ^alying

Had acted falsely and said,

‘I will speak, dripping out words to you concerning ^bwine and liquor,’

He would be one who drips out words as a spokesman to ^cthis people.

¹²“I will surely ^aassemble all of you, Jacob;

I will surely gather the ^bremnant of Israel.

I will put them together like sheep in the fold;

Like a flock in the midst of its pasture

They will be noisy with men.

¹³“The breaker goes up before them;

They break out, pass through the gate, and go out by it.

So their king goes on before them,

And Yahweh at their head.”

CHAPTER 3

Yahweh Will Not Answer

¹And I said,

“^aHear now, heads of Jacob

And rulers of the house of Israel.

Is it not for you to ^bknow justice?

²“You who hate good and love evil,

Who ^atear off their skin from them

And their flesh from their bones,

³And who ^aeat the flesh of my people,

Strip off their skin from them,

Break their bones,

And ^bspread them out as for the pot

And as meat in a caldron.”

⁴Then they will ^acry out to Yahweh,

But He will not answer them.

Instead, He will ^bhide His face from them at that time

Because they have ^cpracticed evil deeds.

⁵Thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who ^alead my people astray;

When they have something to bite with their teeth,

They ^bcall out, “Peace,”

But against him who puts nothing in their mouths,

They set themselves apart for war.

⁶Therefore it will be ^anight for you—without vision,

And darkness for you—without divination.

The ^bsun will go down on the prophets,

And the day will grow black over them.

⁷The seers will be ^aashamed,

And the ^bdiviners will be humiliated.

Indeed, they will all ^ccover their ¹mouths

Because there is ^dno answer from God.

⁸On the other hand ^aI am filled with power—

With the Spirit of Yahweh—

And with justice and might

To ^bdeclare to Jacob his transgression,

Even to Israel his sin.

⁹Now hear this, ^aheads of the house of Jacob

And rulers of the house of Israel,

Who ^babhor justice

And twist everything that is straight,

¹⁰Who ^abuild Zion with bloodshed

And Jerusalem with violent injustice.

¹¹Her heads pronounce ^ajudgment for a bribe,

And her ^bpriests instruct for a price,

And her prophets divine for money.

Yet they lean on Yahweh saying,

“^cIs not Yahweh in our midst?

Evil will not come upon us.”

¹²Therefore, on account of you

^aZion will be plowed as a field;

^bJerusalem will become a heap of ruins,

And the ^cmountain of the house of God will become high places of a forest.