Micah 1
1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham,
Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and
Jerusalem. 2 Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and
let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the LORD from his holy temple. 3 For,
behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread
upon the high places of the earth. 4 And the mountains shall be molten under
him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters
that are poured down a steep place. 5 For the transgression of Jacob is all
this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of
Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not
Jerusalem? 6 Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as
plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the
valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof. 7 And all the graven images
thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned
with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered
it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot. 8
Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a
wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls. 9 For her wound is
incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people,
even to Jerusalem. 10 Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all: in the
house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust. 11 Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of
Saphir, having thy shame naked: the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the
mourning of Bethezel; he shall receive of you his standing. 12 For the
inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD
unto the gate of Jerusalem. 13 O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to
the swift beast: she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion: for
the transgressions of Israel were found in thee. 14 Therefore shalt thou give
presents to Moreshethgath: the houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of
Israel. 15 Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he
shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel. 16 Make thee bald, and poll thee
for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone
into captivity from thee.
Micah 2
1 Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds! when the
morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand. 2
And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and take them
away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. 3
Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, against this family do I devise an evil,
from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither shall ye go haughtily: for
this time is evil. 4 In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and
lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled: he hath
changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me! turning away
he hath divided our fields. 5 Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a
cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD. 6 Prophesy ye not, say they to them
that prophesy: they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame.
7 O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the LORD
straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him that walketh
uprightly? 8 Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye pull off the
robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war. 9
The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their
children have ye taken away my glory for ever. 10 Arise ye, and depart; for this
is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore
destruction. 11 If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I
will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the
prophet of this people. 12 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will
surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of
Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by
reason of the multitude of men. 13 The breaker is come up before them: they have
broken up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their
king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them.
Micah 3
1 And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of
Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment? 2 Who hate the good, and love the
evil; who pluck off their skin from off them, and their flesh from off their
bones; 3 Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin from off them;
and they break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as
flesh within the caldron. 4 Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not
hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have
behaved themselves ill in their doings. 5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the
prophets that make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace;
and he that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him. 6
Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a vision; and it shall
be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and the sun shall go down over the
prophets, and the day shall be dark over them. 7 Then shall the seers be
ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for
there is no answer of God. 8 But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the
LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression,
and to Israel his sin. 9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob,
and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.
10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. 11 The heads
thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hire, and the
prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is
not the LORD among us? none evil can come upon us. 12 Therefore shall Zion for
your sake be plowed as a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the
mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.
Micah 4
1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of
the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be
exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. 2 And many nations shall
come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the
house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in
his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from
Jerusalem. 3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations
afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears
into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither
shall they learn war any more. 4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and
under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD
of hosts hath spoken it. 5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his
god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever. 6 In
that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather
her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; 7 And I will make her
that halted a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation: and the
LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever. 8 And
thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee
shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter
of Jerusalem. 9 Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is
thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail. 10 Be
in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail:
for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field,
and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD
shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies. 11 Now also many nations are
gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon
Zion. 12 But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his
counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the floor. 13 Arise and
thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy
hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces many people: and I will consecrate
their gain unto the LORD, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.
Micah 5
1 Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against
us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. 2 But thou,
Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out
of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings
forth have been from of old, from everlasting. 3 Therefore will he give them up,
until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of
his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. 4 And he shall stand and
feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his
God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
5 And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land:
and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven
shepherds, and eight principal men. 6 And they shall waste the land of Assyria
with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he
deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth
within our borders. 7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many
people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not
for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men. 8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be
among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the
forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both
treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. 9 Thine hand shall
be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off. 10
And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I will cut off thy
horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots: 11 And I will
cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds: 12 And I
will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more
soothsayers: 13 Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images
out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine
hands. 14 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I
destroy thy cities. 15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the
heathen, such as they have not heard.
Micah 6
1 Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and
let the hills hear thy voice. 2 Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD's controversy,
and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his
people, and he will plead with Israel. 3 O my people, what have I done unto
thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. 4 For I brought thee
up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and
I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. 5 O my people, remember now what
Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from
Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD. 6 Wherewith
shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come
before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? 7 Will the LORD be
pleased with thousands of rams, or 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 hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require
of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? 9
The LORD's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name:
hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it. 10 Are there yet the treasures of
wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?
11 Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of
deceitful weights? 12 For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the
inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their
mouth. 13 Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee
desolate because of thy sins. 14 Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy
casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt
not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword. 15 Thou
shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt
not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine. 16 For the
statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk
in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants
thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.
Micah 7
1 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the
grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the
firstripe fruit. 2 The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none
upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man his
brother with a net. 3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the
prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he uttereth
his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up. 4 The best of them is as a brier:
the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy
visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity. 5 Trust ye not in a friend,
put ye not confidence in a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that
lieth in thy bosom. 6 For the son dishonoureth 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. 7 Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I
will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me. 8 Rejoice not
against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness,
the LORD shall be a light unto me. 9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD,
because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment
for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his
righteousness. 10 Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall
cover her which said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? mine eyes shall behold
her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets. 11 In the day
that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the decree be far removed. 12
In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified
cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from
mountain to mountain. 13 Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of
them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings. 14 Feed thy people with
thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the
midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. 15
According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto
him marvellous things. 16 The nations shall see and be confounded at all their
might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. 17
They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like
worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear
because of thee. 18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and
passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not
his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. 19 He will turn again, he
will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast
all their sins into the depths of the sea. 20 Thou wilt perform the truth to
Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the
days of old.