Micah 1–3

Chapter 1

Destruction in Israel and Judah

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

²Hear, O peoples, all of ¹you;

^aListen, O earth and ²all it contains,

And let the Lord ³God be a ^bwitness against you,

The Lord from His holy temple.

³For behold, the Lord is ^acoming 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 rebellion of Jacob

And for the sins of the house of Israel.

What is the ^arebellion of Jacob?

Is it not ^bSamaria?

What is the ^chigh ¹place of Judah?

Is it not Jerusalem?

⁶For I will make Samaria a ^aheap of ruins ¹in the open country,

^bPlanting places for a vineyard.

I will ^cpour her stones down into the valley

And will ^dlay bare her foundations.

⁷All of her ^aidols will be smashed,

All of her earnings will be burned with fire

And all of her images 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.

¹¹¹Go on your way, inhabitant of ²Shaphir, in ^ashameful nakedness.

The inhabitant of ^3bZaanan does not ⁴escape.

The lamentation of ⁵Beth-ezel: “He will take from you its ⁶support.”

¹²For the inhabitant of ¹Maroth

Becomes weak ^awaiting for good,

Because a calamity has come down from the Lord

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 ^brebellious acts of Israel.

¹⁴Therefore you will give parting ^agifts

On behalf of Moresheth-gath;

The houses of ^bAchzib 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

Woe to Oppressors

¹Woe to those who ^ascheme iniquity,

Who work out evil on their beds!

^1bWhen morning comes, they do it,

For it is in the ^cpower of their hands.

²They ^acovet fields and then ^bseize them,

And houses, and take them away.

They ^1crob a man and his house,

A man and his inheritance.

³Therefore thus says the Lord,

“Behold, I am ^aplanning against this ^bfamily a calamity

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 lamentation and say,

‘We are completely ^cdestroyed!

He exchanges the portion of my people;

How He removes it from me!

To the apostate He ^dapportions our fields.’

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

For you by lot in the assembly of the Lord.

⁶‘^aDo not ¹speak out,’ so they speak out.

But if ²they do ^bnot speak out concerning these things,

^cReproaches will not be turned back.

⁷“Is it being said, O house of Jacob:

‘Is the Spirit of the Lord ^aimpatient?

Are these His doings?’

Do not My words ^bdo good

To the one ^cwalking uprightly?

⁸“¹Recently 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 ^aevict,

Each one from her pleasant house.

From her children you take My ^bsplendor forever.

¹⁰“Arise and go,

For this is no place ^aof rest

Because of the ^buncleanness that brings on destruction,

A painful destruction.

¹¹“If a man walking after wind and ^afalsehood

Had told lies and said,

‘I will ¹speak out to you concerning ^bwine and liquor,’

He would be ²spokesman 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 the Lord at their head.”

Chapter 3

Rulers Denounced

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,

³Who ^aeat the flesh of my people,

Strip off their skin from them,

Break their bones

And ^bchop them up as for the pot

And as meat in a kettle.”

⁴Then they will ^acry out to the Lord,

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 the Lord concerning the prophets who ^alead my people astray;

When they have something to bite with their teeth,

They ^bcry, “Peace,”

But against him who puts nothing in their mouths

They declare holy 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 become dark over them.

⁷The seers will be ^aashamed

And the ^bdiviners will be embarrassed.

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 the Lord—

And with justice and courage

To ^bmake known to Jacob his rebellious act,

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 leaders pronounce ^ajudgment for a bribe,

Her ^bpriests instruct for a price

And her prophets divine for money.

Yet they lean on the Lord saying,

“^cIs not the Lord in our midst?

Calamity 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 ¹temple will become high places of a forest.