MICAH
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The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth in
the days of Kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah, which he saw concerning
Samaria and Jerusalem. 2 Hear, you peoples, all of you; listen, O earth, and all
that is in it; and let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, the Lord from his
holy temple. 3 For lo, the LORD is coming out of his place, and will come down
and tread upon the high places of the earth. 4 Then the mountains will melt
under him and the valleys will burst open, like wax near the fire, like waters
poured down a steep place. 5 All this is for the transgression of Jacob and for
the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not
Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem? 6 Therefore I
will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards. I
will pour down her stones into the valley, and uncover her foundations. 7 All
her images shall be beaten to pieces, all her wages shall be burned with fire,
and all her idols I will lay waste; for as the wages of a prostitute she
gathered them, and as the wages of a prostitute they shall again be used. 8 For
this I will lament and wail; I will go barefoot and naked; I will make
lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches. 9 For her wound
is incurable. It has come to Judah; it has reached to the gate of my people, to
Jerusalem. 10 Tell it not in Gath, weep not at all; in Beth-leaphrah roll
yourselves in the dust. 11 Pass on your way, inhabitants of Shaphir, in
nakedness and shame; the inhabitants of Zaanan do not come forth; Beth-ezel is
wailing and shall remove its support from you. 12 For the inhabitants of Maroth
wait anxiously for good, yet disaster has come down from the LORD to the gate of
Jerusalem. 13 Harness the steeds to the chariots, inhabitants of Lachish; it was
the beginning of sin to daughter Zion, for in you were found the transgressions
of Israel. 14 Therefore you shall give parting gifts to Moresheth-gath; the
houses of Achzib shall be a deception to the kings of Israel. 15 I will again
bring a conqueror upon you, inhabitants of Mareshah; the glory of Israel shall
come to Adullam. 16 Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair for your pampered
children; make yourselves as bald as the eagle, for they have gone from you into
exile.
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Alas for those who devise wickedness and evil deeds on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in their power. 2 They
covet fields, and seize them; houses, and take them away; they oppress
householder and house, people and their inheritance. 3 Therefore thus says the
LORD: Now, I am devising against this family an evil from which you cannot
remove your necks; and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be an evil
time. 4 On that day they shall take up a taunt song against you, and wail with
bitter lamentation, and say, "We are utterly ruined; the LORD alters the
inheritance of my people; how he removes it from me! Among our captors he
parcels out our fields." 5 Therefore you will have no one to cast the line by
lot in the assembly of the LORD. 6 "Do not preach"--thus they preach-- "one
should not preach of such things; disgrace will not overtake us." 7 Should this
be said, O house of Jacob? Is the Lord's patience exhausted? Are these his
doings? Do not my words do good to one who walks uprightly? 8 But you rise up
against my people as an enemy; you strip the robe from the peaceful, from those
who pass by trustingly with no thought of war. 9 The women of my people you
drive out from their pleasant houses; from their young children you take away my
glory forever. 10 Arise and go; for this is no place to rest, because of
uncleanness that destroys with a grievous destruction. 11 If someone were to go
about uttering empty falsehoods, saying, "I will preach to you of wine and
strong drink," such a one would be the preacher for this people! 12 I will
surely gather all of you, O Jacob, I will gather the survivors of Israel; I will
set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture; it will
resound with people. 13 The one who breaks out will go up before them; they will
break through and pass the gate, going out by it. Their king will pass on before
them, the LORD at their head.
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And I said: Listen, you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of
Israel! Should you not know justice?-- 2 you who hate the good and love the
evil, who tear the skin off my people, and the flesh off their bones; 3 who eat
the flesh of my people, flay their skin off them, break their bones in pieces,
and chop them up like meat in a kettle, like flesh in a caldron. 4 Then they
will cry to the LORD, but he will not answer them; he will hide his face from
them at that time, because they have acted wickedly. 5 Thus says the LORD
concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who cry "Peace" when they
have something to eat, but declare war against those who put nothing into their
mouths. 6 Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision, and darkness to
you, without revelation. The sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day
shall be black over them; 7 the seers shall be disgraced, and the diviners put
to shame; they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God. 8
But as for me, I am filled with power, with the spirit of the LORD, and with
justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.
9 Hear this, you rulers of the house of Jacob and chiefs of the house of Israel,
who abhor justice and pervert all equity, 10 who build Zion with blood and
Jerusalem with wrong! 11 Its rulers give judgment for a bribe, its priests teach
for a price, its prophets give oracles for money; yet they lean upon the LORD
and say, "Surely the LORD is with us! No harm shall come upon us." 12 Therefore
because of you Zion shall be plowed as a field; Jerusalem shall become a heap of
ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height.
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In days to come the mountain of the Lord's house shall be
established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised up above the
hills. Peoples shall stream to it, 2 and many nations shall come and say: "Come,
let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; that
he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths." For out of Zion
shall go forth instruction, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 3 He shall
judge between many peoples, and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;
they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning
hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn
war any more; 4 but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own
fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts
has spoken. 5 For all the peoples walk, each in the name of its god, but we will
walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever. 6 In that day, says the
LORD, I will assemble the lame and gather those who have been driven away, and
those whom I have afflicted. 7 The lame I will make the remnant, and those who
were cast off, a strong nation; and the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion
now and forevermore. 8 And you, O tower of the flock, hill of daughter Zion, to
you it shall come, the former dominion shall come, the sovereignty of daughter
Jerusalem. 9 Now why do you cry aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your
counselor perished, that pangs have seized you like a woman in labor? 10 Writhe
and groan, O daughter Zion, like a woman in labor; for now you shall go forth
from the city and camp in the open country; you shall go to Babylon. There you
shall be rescued, there the LORD will redeem you from the hands of your enemies.
11 Now many nations are assembled against you, saying, "Let her be profaned, and
let our eyes gaze upon Zion." 12 But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD;
they do not understand his plan, that he has gathered them as sheaves to the
threshing floor. 13 Arise and thresh, O daughter Zion, for I will make your horn
iron and your hoofs bronze; you shall beat in pieces many peoples, and shall
devote their gain to the LORD, their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.
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Now you are walled around with a wall; siege is laid against us;
with a rod they strike the ruler of Israel upon the cheek. 2 But you, O
Bethlehem of Ephrathah, who are one of the little clans of Judah, from you shall
come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel, whose origin is from of old,
from ancient days. 3 Therefore he shall give them up until the time when she who
is in labor has brought forth; then the rest of his kindred shall return to the
people of Israel. 4 And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the
LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God. And they shall live
secure, for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth; 5 and he shall be
the one of peace. If the Assyrians come into our land and tread upon our soil,
we will raise against them seven shepherds and eight installed as rulers. 6 They
shall rule the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with the
drawn sword; they shall rescue us from the Assyrians if they come into our land
or tread within our border. 7 Then the remnant of Jacob, surrounded by many
peoples, shall be like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass, which do
not depend upon people or wait for any mortal. 8 And among the nations the
remnant of Jacob, surrounded by many peoples, shall be like a lion among the
animals of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which, when
it goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, with no one to deliver. 9 Your
hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries, and all your enemies shall be cut
off. 10 In that day, says the LORD, I will cut off your horses from among you
and will destroy your chariots; 11 and I will cut off the cities of your land
and throw down all your strongholds; 12 and I will cut off sorceries from your
hand, and you shall have no more soothsayers; 13 and I will cut off your images
and your pillars from among you, and you shall bow down no more to the work of
your hands; 14 and I will uproot your sacred poles from among you and destroy
your towns. 15 And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance on the nations
that did not obey.
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Hear what the LORD says: Rise, plead your case before the
mountains, and let the hills hear your voice. 2 Hear, you mountains, the
controversy of the LORD, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for the LORD
has a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel. 3 "O my
people, what have I done to you? In what have I wearied you? Answer me! 4 For I
brought you up from the land of Egypt, and redeemed you from the house of
slavery; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O my people, remember
now what King Balak of Moab devised, what Balaam son of Beor answered him, and
what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the saving acts of the
LORD." 6 "With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on
high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7
Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of
oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for
the sin of my soul?" 8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does
the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk
humbly with your God? 9 The voice of the LORD cries to the city (it is sound
wisdom to fear your name): Hear, O tribe and assembly of the city! 10 Can I
forget the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant
measure that is accursed? 11 Can I tolerate wicked scales and a bag of dishonest
weights? 12 Your wealthy are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, with
tongues of deceit in their mouths. 13 Therefore I have begun to strike you down,
making you desolate because of your sins. 14 You shall eat, but not be
satisfied, and there shall be a gnawing hunger within you; you shall put away,
but not save, and what you save, I will hand over to the sword. 15 You shall
sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine. 16 For you have kept the statutes of
Omri and all the works of the house of Ahab, and you have followed their
counsels. Therefore I will make you a desolation, and your inhabitants an object
of hissing; so you shall bear the scorn of my people.
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Woe is me! For I have become like one who, after the summer fruit
has been gathered, after the vintage has been gleaned, finds no cluster to eat;
there is no first-ripe fig for which I hunger. 2 The faithful have disappeared
from the land, and there is no one left who is upright; they all lie in wait for
blood, and they hunt each other with nets. 3 Their hands are skilled to do evil;
the official and the judge ask for a bribe, and the powerful dictate what they
desire; thus they pervert justice. 4 The best of them is like a brier, the most
upright of them a thorn hedge. The day of their sentinels, of their punishment,
has come; now their confusion is at hand. 5 Put no trust in a friend, have no
confidence in a loved one; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in
your embrace; 6 for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises
up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; your
enemies are members of your own household. 7 But as for me, I will look to the
LORD, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. 8 Do not
rejoice over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness,
the LORD will be a light to me. 9 I must bear the indignation of the LORD,
because I have sinned against him, until he takes my side and executes judgment
for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall see his vindication. 10 Then
my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, "Where is the LORD
your God?" My eyes will see her downfall; now she will be trodden down like the
mire of the streets. 11 A day for the building of your walls! In that day the
boundary shall be far extended. 12 In that day they will come to you from
Assyria to Egypt, and from Egypt to the River, from sea to sea and from mountain
to mountain. 13 But the earth will be desolate because of its inhabitants, for
the fruit of their doings. 14 Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock
that belongs to you, which lives alone in a forest in the midst of a garden
land; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old. 15 As in the
days when you came out of the land of Egypt, show us marvelous things. 16 The
nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might; they shall lay their hands
on their mouths; their ears shall be deaf; 17 they shall lick dust like a snake,
like the crawling things of the earth; they shall come trembling out of their
fortresses; they shall turn in dread to the LORD our God, and they shall stand
in fear of you. 18 Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over
the transgression of the remnant of your possession? He does not retain his
anger forever, because he delights in showing clemency. 19 He will again have
compassion upon us; he will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all
our sins into the depths of the sea. 20 You will show faithfulness to Jacob and
unswerving loyalty to Abraham, as you have sworn to our ancestors from the days
of old.
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