\NormalFont\ShortTitle{Micah}

{\MT Micah


\par }\ChapOne{1}{\PP \VerseOne{1}The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morashthite in the days of Jotham, Achaz, [and] Hezekiah, the kings of Judah, which he foresaw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

\VS{2}Hear, ye people, altogether; listen, O earth, with all that filleth it: and let the Lord Eternal be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.

\VS{3}For, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his residence; and he will come down, and will step along upon the high places of the earth.

\VS{4}And the mountains shall melt beneath him, and the valleys shall cleave in twain, like wax [melteth] before the fire, like water poured out on a declivity.

\VS{5}For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. Who caused the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and who caused the high-places of Judah? is it not Jerusalem?

\VS{6}Therefore will I change Samaria into stone-heaps on the field, into vineyard plantations: and I will hurl down into the valley her stones, and her foundations will I lay open.

\VS{7}And all her graven images shall he beaten to pieces, and all her wages of sin shall be burnt with the fire, and all her idols will I make desolate; for from harlot's wages she gathered them, and for harlot's wages shall they be used again.

\VS{8}For this will I lament and wail; I will go confused and naked: I will make a lament like the crocodiles, and mourning like the ostriches.

\VS{9}For her wounds arc incurable; for [the evil] is come even unto Judah; [the enemy] hath reached as far as the gate of my people, even up to Jerusalem.

\VS{10}Tell it not at Gath, weep ye not loudly [there]: in Bethle'aphrah roll thyself in the dust.

\VS{11}Pass ye away, ye inhabitants of Shaphir, having your shame laid bare: the inhabitress of Zaanan cometh not forth [any more]; the mourning of Beth-haezel taketh from you its halting place.

\VS{12}For the inhabitress of Maroth is grieved for the [lost] good; because evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem.

\VS{13}Bind the chariot to the swift horses, O inhabitress of Lachish: the beginning of sin was she to the daughter of Zion; for in thee were found the transgressions of Israel.

\VS{14}Therefore shalt thou have to give presents to Moresheth-gath: the houses of Achzib shall become a deception to the kings of Israel.

\VS{15}Yet will I bring an [enemy as] heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: as far as 'Adullam shall withdraw the glory of Israel.

\VS{16}Make thyself bald, and cut off thy hair for the children of thy delight; enlarge thy baldness like the eagle; because they are gone into exile from thee.



\par }\Chap{2}{\PP \VerseOne{1}Woe to those that devise wickedness, and resolve on evil upon their couches! by the first light of the morning they execute it, if they have it in the power of their hand.

\VS{2}And they covet fields, and rob them; and houses, and take them away: so they defraud the master and his house, and the man and his heritage.

\VS{3}Therefore thus hath said the Lord, Behold, I will devise against this family an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; nor shall ye go erect; for it is an evil time.

\VS{4}On that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a mournful lamentation, and say, “We are utterly wasted: the portion of my people hath he exchanged; how hath he removed it from me! instead of restoring [them to us] he divideth our fields.”

\VS{5}Therefore shalt thou have none that shall draw the [measuring] cord in [his] lot in the congregation of the Lord.

\VS{6}“Preach not;” [but] they shall preach: they shall not preach [indeed] to these, that reproach may not overtake them.

\VS{7}Shall it be said [in] the house of Jacob, Is the spirit of the Lord straightened? are these his doings? Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?

\VS{8}But long since is my people risen up as an enemy: from the garment do you pull off the ornament; of those that pass by securely [ye make] men returned from war.

\VS{9}The wives of my people do you drive out of their delightful houses; from their children do ye take away my ornament for ever.

\VS{10}Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your resting-place; because it is polluted, it shall destroy [you], even with a grievous destruction.

\VS{11}If a man that goeth after wind and lieth with falsehood [should say], “I will preach unto thee of wine and of strong drink:” he would be a preacher for this people.

\VS{12}I will [once] surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather up the remnant of Israel; I will place them together as flocks in the fold, as droves in the midst of their pen: they shall be crowded with men.

\VS{13}The wall-breaker cometh up before them; they break in and pass through the gate, and go out by it: and their king passeth on before them, and the Lord at their head.



\par }\Chap{3}{\PP \VerseOne{1}And I said, Hear, I pray you, O ye heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know what is justice?

\VS{2}[But they are those] who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their bones;

\VS{3}Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them; and who crush their bones, and chop them in pieces, as that to be put in a pot, and as flesh within a caldron.

\VS{4}Then will they cry unto the Lord, but he will not hear them; and he will hide his face from them at that time, as they have committed their evil deeds.

\VS{5}Thus hath said the Lord concerning the prophets that mislead my people, who, when they have something to bite with their teeth, cry, Peace; but who prepare war against him who putteth nothing in their mouth:

\VS{6}Therefore shall the night be unto you, without a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, without divining; and the sun shall go down around the prophets, and the day shall be obscured around them.

\VS{7}Thus shall the seers be made ashamed, and the diviners be put to the blush: yea, they shall all wrap themselves up to the upper lip; for there is no answer of God.

\VS{8}But truly I am indeed full of strength by the spirit of the Lord, and [of power] of judging, and of might, to tell unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.

\VS{9}Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel, that abhor justice, and make crooked all that is straight.

\VS{10}They build up Zion with blood-guiltiness, and Jerusalem with wrong.

\VS{11}Her heads judge for bribes, and her priests teach for reward, and her prophets divine for money: and yet will they lean upon the Lord, and say, Is not the Lord among us? evil cannot come over us.

\VS{12}Therefore for your sake shall Zion be ploughed up as a field, and Jerusalem shall become ruinous heaps, and the mount of the house, forest-covered high-places.



\par }\Chap{4}{\PP \VerseOne{1}And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be firmly established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and unto it shall people flow.

\VS{2}And many nations shall come, and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us of his ways, and we may walk in his paths; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem.

\VS{3}And he shall judge between many people, and decide for strong nations even afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning-knives: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, and they shall not learn any more war.

\VS{4}But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, with none to make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it.

\VS{5}[But] though all the people should walk every one in the name of his god, yet will we walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.

\VS{6}On that day, saith the Lord, will I assemble her that halteth, and her that is driven out will I gather, and her to whom I have done evil;

\VS{7}And I will make of her that halted a remnant, and of her that was cast off far away a strong nation: and the Lord will reign over them on mount Zion, from this time and unto eternity.

\VS{8}And thou, O tower of flocks, the strong-hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall go, and shall come, the former dominion, the kingdom belonging to the daughter of Jerusalem.

\VS{9}Now why dost thou cry aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor lost? that pangs have seized on thee as on a woman in travail?

\VS{10}Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail; for now shalt thou go forth out of the town, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go as far as Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there will the Lord redeem thee from the grasp of thy enemies.

\VS{11}And now many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look with pleasure on Zion.

\VS{12}But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, and they understand not his counsel: that he will [once] gather them as the sheaves into the threshing-floor.

\VS{13}Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion; for I will render thy horn iron, and thy hoofs will I render copper, and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will devote unto the Lord their ill-gotten gain, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.



\par }\Chap{5}{\PP \VerseOne{1}(4:14) Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops; they lay siege against us: with the rod they smite upon the cheek the judge of Israel.

\VS{2}(5:1) But thou, Beth-lechem Ephratah, the least [though] thou be among the thousands of Judah, [yet] out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from olden times, from most ancient days.

\VS{3}(5:2) Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she who travaileth hath brought forth: then shall the remnant of his brethren return with the children of Israel.

\VS{4}(5:3) And he shall stand forward and feed [Israel] through the strength of the Lord, through the excellency of the name of the Lord his God: and they shall abide [safely]; for now shall he be great even unto the ends of the earth.

\VS{5}(5:4) And in this [manner] shall there be peace: If Asshur should come into our land; and if he should tread in our palaces, then will we raise up against him seven shepherds, and eight anointed men.

\VS{6}(5:5) And they shall lay waste the land of Asshur with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the gates of its [cities]: thus will he deliver us from Asshur, if he should come into our land, and if he should tread within our borders.

\VS{7}(5:6) And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people like dew from the Lord, like showers upon the herbs, that wait not for man, nor hope for the sons of man.

\VS{8}(5:7) And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many people, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep: who, if he break in, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, while none can deliver.

\VS{9}(5:8) High shall thy hand be lifted up above thy adversaries, and all thy enemies shall be cut off.

\VS{10}(5:9) And it shall come to pass on that day, saith the Lord, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots;

\VS{11}(5:10) And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and I will throw down all thy strongholds;

\VS{12}(5:11) And I will cut off the arts of witchcraft out of thy hand; and soothsayers shalt thou have no more;

\VS{13}(5:12) And I will cut off thy graven images, and thy statues out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more prostrate thyself to the work of thy hands;

\VS{14}(5:13) And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee; and I will destroy thy enemies.

\VS{15}(5:14) And I will in anger and in fury execute vengeance upon the nations, upon those that have not hearkened.



\par }\Chap{6}{\PP \VerseOne{1}Do but hear now what the Lord saith, Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.

\VS{2}Hear ye, O mountains, the controversy of the Lord, and ye strong foundations of the earth! for the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and with Israel will he plead.

\VS{3}O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherewith have I wearied thee? testify against me.

\VS{4}Although I had brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bond-men; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

\VS{5}O my people, do but remember what Balak the king of Moab resolved, and what Bil'am the son of Be'or answered him, from Shittim unto Gilgal, in order that ye may know the gracious benefits of the Lord.

\VS{6}Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, bow myself before the God on high? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old!

\VS{7}Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with myriads of streams of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

\VS{8}He hath told thee, O man, what is good; and what the Lord doth require of thee: [nothing] but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God.

\VS{9}The voice of the Lord calleth unto the city,—and [the man of] wisdom shall see thy name:—hear ye the rod [of punishment], and who hath ordained it.

\VS{10}Are there yet in the house of the wicked man the treasures of wickedness, and the scant accursed measure?

\VS{11}Can I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag [full] of deceptive weights?

\VS{12}For her rich men are full of violence, and her inhabitants have spoken falsehood, and their tongue is deceit [itself] in their mouth.

\VS{13}Therefore have I also smitten thee with sore wounds, making [thee] desolate because of thy sins.

\VS{14}Thou wilt indeed eat, but not be satisfied; and what thou hast eaten shall bend thee down; and thou wilt overtake [the enemy], but thou shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.

\VS{15}Thou wilt indeed sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou wilt indeed tread out olives, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with oil; and the juice of the grapes, but thou shalt not drink wine.

\VS{16}For there are observed the statutes of 'Omri, and all the works of the house of Achab, and ye walk in their counsels: in order that I should give thee up unto desolation, and thy inhabitants to derision; and ye shall bear the reproach of my people.



\par }\Chap{7}{\PP \VerseOne{1}Woe is me! for I am as in the gathering of the summer-fruits, as in the grape-gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat, no first-ripe fruit for which my soul longeth.

\VS{2}The pious hath disappeared out of the land; and the upright among men there is none; all of them lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his brother with a net.

\VS{3}For the evil of your hands you expect good? while the prince demandeth [bribes], and the judge acteth for pay; and the great man is only speaking the wilful pleasure of his soul: and so do they make a network [of wrong].

\VS{4}The best of them is like a brier; the most upright is [sharper] than a thorn-hedge: the day of thy watchmen, thy punishment, is come; now shall be perplexity among them.

\VS{5}Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a confidant: from her that lieth in thy bosom guard the doors of thy mouth.

\VS{6}For the son disgraceth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.

\VS{7}But I—I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.

\VS{8}Rejoice not, O my enemy, over me: though I am fallen, I rise again: though I should sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light unto me.

\VS{9}The indignation of the Lord will I bear, because I have sinned against him; until that he plead my cause, and execute justice for me: [when] he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.

\VS{10}Then she that is my enemy will see it, and shame shall cover her, who said unto me, Where is the Lord thy God? My eyes shall complacently see her [suffer]: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

\VS{11}The day that thy fences are to be built—that same day, the ordained, is yet far removed.

\VS{12}It is a day when men shall come to thee from Assyria, and the cities of Mazor, and from Mazor even to the river, and from sea to sea, and [from] mountain to mountain.

\VS{13}While the land [of the nations] shall be made desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their doings.

\VS{14}Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy heritage, which dwell in solitude in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gil'ad, as in the days of old.

\VS{15}As in the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I let them see marvelous things.

\VS{16}Nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deafened.

\VS{17}They shall lick the dust like the serpent; like those that crawl on the earth, shall they come forth trembling out of their close places: unto the Lord our God shall they hasten in dread, and shall be afraid of thee.

\VS{18}Who is a god like unto thee, pardoning iniquity, and forgiving transgression to the residue of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in kindness.

\VS{19}He will again have mercy on us, he will suppress our iniquities; yea, thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

\VS{20}Thou wilt show faithfulness unto Jacob, and kindness unto Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers in the days of old.


\par }