Micah 6–7

¹Hear, I pray you, that which Jehovah is saying: ‘Rise—strive thou with the mountains, And cause thou the hills to hear thy voice.’ ²Hear, O mountains, the strife of Jehovah, Ye strong ones—foundations of earth! For a strife is to Jehovah, with His people, And with Israel He doth reason. ³O My people, what have I done to thee? And what—have I wearied thee? Testify against Me. ⁴For I brought thee up from the land of Egypt, And from the house of servants I have ransomed thee, And I send before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. ⁵O My people, remember, I pray you, What counsel did Balak king of Moab, What answer him did Balaam son of Beor, (From Shittim unto Gilgal,) In order to know the righteous acts of Jehovah.’

⁶With what do I come before Jehovah? Do I bow to God Most High? Do I come before Him with burnt-offerings? With calves—sons of a year? ⁷Is Jehovah pleased with thousands of rams? With myriads of streams of oil? Do I give my first-born for my transgression? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? ⁸He hath declared to thee, O man, what is good; Yea, what is Jehovah requiring of thee, Except—to do judgment, and love kindness, And lowly to walk with thy God?

⁹A voice of Jehovah to the city calleth, And wisdom doth fear Thy name, Hear ye the rod, and Him who appointed it. ¹⁰Are there yet in the house of the wicked Treasures of wickedness, And the abhorred scanty ephah? ¹¹Do I reckon it pure with balances of wickedness? And with a bag of deceitful stones? ¹²Whose rich ones have been full of violence, And its inhabitants have spoken falsehood, And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. ¹³And I also, I have begun to smite thee, To make desolate, because of thy sins. ¹⁴Thou—thou eatest, and thou art not satisfied, And thy pit is in thy midst, And thou removest, and dost not deliver, And that which thou deliverest, to a sword I give. ¹⁵Thou—thou sowest, and thou dost not reap, Thou—thou treadest the olive, And thou pourest not out oil, And new wine—and thou drinkest not wine. ¹⁶And kept habitually are the statutes of Omri, And all the work of the house of Ahab, And ye do walk in their counsels, For My giving thee for a desolation, And its inhabitants for a hissing, And the reproach of My people ye do bear!

Chapter 7

¹My woe is to me, for I have been As gatherings of summer-fruit, As gleanings of harvest, There is no cluster to eat, The first-ripe fruit desired hath my soul. ²Perished hath the kind out of the land, And upright among men—there are none, All of them for blood lie in wait, Each his brother they hunt with a net. ³On the evil are both hands to do it well, The prince is asking—also the judge—for recompence, And the great—he is speaking the mischief of his soul, And they wrap it up. ⁴Their best one is as a brier, The upright one—than a thorn-hedge, The day of thy watchmen—Thy visitation—hath come. Now is their perplexity. ⁵Believe not in a friend, trust not in a leader, From her who is lying in thy bosom keep the openings of thy mouth. ⁶For a son is dishonouring a father, A daughter hath stood against her mother, A daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, The enemies of each are the men of his house.

⁷And I—in Jehovah I do watch, I do wait for the God of my salvation, Hear me doth my God. ⁸Thou dost not rejoice over me, O mine enemy, When I have fallen, I have risen, When I sit in darkness Jehovah is a light to me. ⁹The indignation of Jehovah I do bear, For I have sinned against Him, Till that He doth plead my cause, And hath executed my judgment, He doth bring me forth to the light, I look on His righteousness. ¹⁰And see doth mine enemy, And cover her doth shame, Who saith unto me, ‘Where is Jehovah thy God?’ Mine eyes do look on her, Now she is for a treading-place, As mire of the out-places. ¹¹The day to build thy walls! That day—removed is the limit. ¹²That day—even unto thee it doth come in, From Asshur and the cities of the fortress, And from the fortress even unto the river, And from sea to sea, and mount to mount. ¹³And the land hath been for a desolation, Because of its inhabitants, Because of the fruit of their doings.

¹⁴Rule Thou Thy people with Thy rod, The flock of Thine inheritance, Dwelling alone in a forest in the midst of Carmel, They enjoy Bashan and Gilead as in days of old. ¹⁵According to the days of thy coming forth out of the land of Egypt, I do shew it wonderful things. ¹⁶See do nations, and they are ashamed of all their might, They lay a hand on the mouth, their ears are deaf. ¹⁷They lick dust as a serpent, as fearful things of earth, They tremble from their enclosures, Of Jehovah our God they are afraid, Yea, they are afraid of Thee. ¹⁸Who is a God like Thee? taking away iniquity, And passing by the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance, He hath not retained for ever His anger, Because He—He delighteth in kindness. ¹⁹He doth turn back, He pitieth us, He doth subdue our iniquities, And Thou castest into the depths of the sea all their sins. ²⁰Thou givest truth to Jacob, kindness to Abraham, That thou hast sworn to our fathers, from the days of antiquity!

Chapter 1