Micah

Micah

The word of YHWH that came to Micah of Moresheth

in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—

which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem:

Hear, all you peoples!

Pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it!

Let the Sovereign YHWH be a witness against you,

YHWH from His holy temple.

For behold, YHWH is coming out of His place,

and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.

The mountains will melt beneath Him,

and the valleys will split open—

like wax before the fire,

like waters poured down a steep slope.

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?

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.

All her carved images shall be broken in pieces,

all her wages burned with fire,

and all her idols I will lay waste—

for from the wages of prostitution she gathered them,

and to the wages of a prostitute they shall return.

Therefore I will lament and wail;

I will go stripped and naked.

I will make lamentation like the jackals,

and mourning like the ostriches.

For her wound is incurable,

and it has come to Judah;

it has reached to the gate of My people,

to Jerusalem.

Tell it not in Gath;

weep not at all.

In Beth-leaphrah roll yourselves in the dust.

Pass on, inhabitants of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame.

The inhabitants of Zaanan do not come out.

The lamentation of Beth-ezel

shall take away from you its support.

For the inhabitants of Maroth

wait anxiously for good,

because disaster has come down from YHWH

to the gate of Jerusalem.

Harness the steeds to the chariots,

inhabitants of Lachish—

it was the beginning of sin

to the daughter of Zion.

Therefore you shall give parting gifts

to Moresheth-gath.

The houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing

to the kings of Israel.

I will again bring a conqueror to you,

inhabitants of Mareshah.

The glory of Israel shall come to Adullam.

Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair,

for the children of your delight.

Make yourselves as bald as the eagle,

for they shall go from you into exile.

———

Woe to those who devise wickedness

and work evil on their beds!

When morning dawns, they perform it,

because it is in their power.

They covet fields and seize them,

houses, and take them away;

they oppress a person and their household,

a man and his inheritance.

Therefore thus says YHWH:

“Behold, against this family I am devising disaster,

from which you cannot remove your necks.

You shall not walk haughtily,

for it will be a time of calamity.”

In that day they shall take up a taunt against you

and moan bitterly, saying:

“We are utterly ruined;

He changes the portion of my people;

how He removes it from me!”

To the unfaithful He allots our fields.

Therefore you will have none

to cast the measuring line by lot

in the assembly of YHWH.

“Do not preach!” they preach—

“one should not preach of such things;

disgrace will not overtake us.”

Should this be said, O house of Jacob?

Is the Spirit of YHWH restricted?

Are these His deeds?

Do not My words do good

to the one who walks uprightly?

But lately My people have risen up as an enemy;

you strip the robe from those who pass by trustingly,

like those returning from war.

The women of My people you drive out

from their pleasant houses;

from their young children you take away

My splendor forever.

Arise and go,

for this is no place to rest,

because of uncleanness that brings destruction—

a grievous destruction.

If someone should go about and utter wind and lies,

saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,”

they would be the preacher for this people!

But I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob;

I will surely assemble the remnant of Israel.

I will set them together

like sheep in a fold,

like a flock in its pasture—

a noisy multitude of people.

He who breaks through will go up before them;

they will break through and pass the gate,

going out by it.

Their king will pass on before them,

YHWH at their head.

———

And I said:

Hear, you heads of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel!

Is it not for you to know justice?—

you who hate the good and love the evil,

who tear the skin from off My people

and their flesh from off their bones,

who eat the flesh of My people,

and strip their skin from them,

and break their bones in pieces

and chop them up like meat in a pot.

Then they will cry to YHWH,

but He will not answer them;

He will hide His face from them at that time,

because they have made their deeds evil.

Thus says YHWH 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:

Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision,

and darkness to you, without divination.

The sun shall go down on the prophets,

and the day shall be black over them.

The seers shall be disgraced,

and the diviners put to shame;

they shall all cover their lips,

for there is no answer from God.

But as for me, I am filled with power—

with the Spirit of YHWH—

and with justice and might,

to declare to Jacob his transgression

and to Israel his sin.

Hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob

and rulers of the house of Israel,

who detest justice

and make crooked all that is straight,

who build Zion with blood

and Jerusalem with iniquity.

Its leaders give judgment for a bribe;

its priests teach for a price;

its prophets practice divination for money—

yet they lean on YHWH and say,

“Is not YHWH in our midst?

No disaster shall come upon us.”

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.

———

It shall come to pass in the latter days

that the mountain of the house of YHWH

shall be established as the highest of the mountains,

and it shall be lifted above the hills;

and peoples shall stream to it.

Many nations shall come and say:

“Come, let us go up to the mountain of YHWH,

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 YHWH from Jerusalem.

He shall judge between many peoples

and shall settle disputes for strong nations far away;

and 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 anymore.

But they shall sit every one under his vine and under his fig tree,

and no one shall make them afraid,

for the mouth of YHWH of Hosts has spoken.

For all the peoples walk,

each in the name of their god,

but we will walk in the name of YHWH our God

forever and ever.

In that day, declares YHWH,

I will assemble the lame

and gather those who were driven out,

and those whom I have afflicted.

And the lame I will make a remnant,

and those who were cast off, a strong nation.

And YHWH will reign over them in Mount Zion

from this time forth and forevermore.

And you, tower of the flock,

hill of the daughter of Zion,

to you it shall come—

the former dominion shall come,

kingship for the daughter of Jerusalem.

Now why do you cry aloud?

Is there no king in you?

Has your counselor perished,

that pain has seized you like a woman in labor?

Writhe and groan, O daughter of Zion,

like a woman in childbirth,

for now you shall go out from the city

and dwell in the open country;

you shall go to Babylon.

There you shall be rescued;

there YHWH will redeem you

from the hand of your enemies.

Now many nations are assembled against you, saying,

“Let her be defiled, and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.”

But they do not know the thoughts of YHWH;

they do not understand His plan,

that He has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.

Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion,

for I will make your horn iron,

and your hooves bronze;

you shall beat in pieces many peoples

and devote their gain to YHWH,

their wealth to the Sovereign of all the earth.

———

Now gather yourselves in troops, O daughter of troops;

siege is laid against us.

With a rod they strike the judge of Israel

on the cheek.

But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,

who are too small to be among the clans of Judah,

from you shall come forth for Me

One who is to be ruler in Israel,

whose coming forth is from of old,

from days of eternity.

Therefore He shall give them up

until the time when she who is in labor has given birth;

then the rest of His brothers shall return

to the children of Israel.

And He shall stand and shepherd His flock

in the strength of YHWH,

in the majesty of the name of YHWH His God.

And they shall dwell secure,

for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth.

And He shall be their peace.

When the Assyrian comes into our land

and treads in our palaces,

then we will raise against him seven shepherds

and eight princes of men.

They shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,

and the land of Nimrod at its entrances;

and He shall rescue us from the Assyrian

when he comes into our land

and treads within our border.

Then the remnant of Jacob shall be

in the midst of many peoples

like dew from YHWH,

like showers on the grass,

which do not wait for human command

or delay for mortals.

And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations,

in the midst of many peoples,

like a lion among the beasts of the forest,

like a young lion among the flocks of sheep—

when it goes through, it treads down and tears in pieces,

and there is none to deliver.

Your hand shall be lifted up over your adversaries,

and all your enemies shall be cut off.

And in that day, declares YHWH,

I will cut off your horses from among you

and will destroy your chariots;

and I will cut off the cities of your land

and throw down all your strongholds.

And I will cut off sorceries from your hand,

and you shall have no more fortune tellers;

and I will cut off your carved images

and your pillars from among you,

and you shall bow down no more

to the work of your hands.

And I will root out your Asherah poles from your midst

and destroy your cities.

And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance

on the nations that did not obey.

———

Hear what YHWH says:

Arise, plead your case before the mountains,

and let the hills hear your voice.

Hear, O mountains, the indictment of YHWH,

and you enduring foundations of the earth,

for YHWH has a case against His people,

and He will contend with Israel.

“O My people, what have I done to you?

How have I wearied you? Answer Me!

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.

O My people, remember what Balak king of Moab devised,

and what Balaam son of Beor answered him,

and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,

that you may know the righteous acts of YHWH.”

With what shall I come before YHWH,

and bow myself before God on high?

Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,

with calves a year old?

Will YHWH be pleased with thousands of rams,

with ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has told you, O man, what is good—

and what does YHWH require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,

and to walk humbly with your God?

The voice of YHWH cries to the city—

and wisdom shall fear Your name:

“Hear the rod and the One who appointed it!”

Can I forget the treasures of wickedness

in the house of the wicked,

and the scant measure that is accursed?

Shall I acquit a person with dishonest scales

and a bag of false weights?

Your wealthy are full of violence;

your inhabitants speak lies,

and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

Therefore I will strike you with a grievous blow,

making you desolate because of your sins.

You shall eat, but not be satisfied,

and there shall be hunger within you.

You shall put away, but not preserve,

and what you preserve I will give to the sword.

You shall sow, but not reap;

you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourself with oil;

you shall crush grapes, but not drink wine.

For you have kept the statutes of Omri

and all the works of the house of Ahab;

and you have walked in their counsels,

that I may make you a desolation.

Therefore you shall bear the reproach of My people.

———

Woe is me!

For I have become like one who,

after the summer fruit has been gathered,

gleans no cluster to eat—

no first-ripe fig that my soul desires.

The faithful have vanished from the land,

and there is no one upright among humanity.

They all lie in wait for blood,

and each hunts the other with a net.

Their hands are skilled at doing evil;

the prince and the judge ask for a bribe,

and the powerful dictate what they desire—

thus they weave it together.

The best of them is like a brier,

the most upright like a thorn hedge.

The day of your watchmen—of your punishment—has come;

now their confusion is at hand.

Put no trust in a neighbor;

have no confidence in a friend;

guard the doors of your mouth

from her who lies in your arms.

For the son treats the father with contempt,

the daughter rises up against her mother,

the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law—

a person’s enemies are the members of his own household.

But as for me, I will look to YHWH;

I will wait for the God of my rescue;

my God will hear me.

Rejoice not over me, O my enemy;

when I fall, I shall rise;

when I sit in darkness,

YHWH will be a light to me.

I will bear the indignation of YHWH

because I have sinned against Him,

until He pleads my cause

and brings about justice for me.

He will bring me out to the light;

I shall see His vindication.

Then my enemy will see,

and shame will cover her

who said to me,

“Where is YHWH your God?”

My eyes will see her downfall;

now she will be trampled

like mud in the streets.

A day for rebuilding your walls!

In that day the boundary shall be far extended.

In that day they shall come to you

from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,

from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.

But the earth will be desolate

because of its inhabitants,

for the fruit of their deeds.

Shepherd Your people with Your staff,

the flock of Your inheritance,

who dwell alone in a forest,

in the midst of a garden land.

Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead

as in the days of old.

As in the days when You came out of the land of Egypt,

show us marvelous things.

The nations shall see and be ashamed

of all their might;

they shall lay their hands on their mouths;

their ears shall be deaf.

They shall lick the dust like a serpent,

like crawling things of the earth;

they shall come trembling out of their strongholds;

they shall turn in dread to YHWH our God,

and they shall be afraid because of You.

Who is a God like You,

pardoning iniquity

and passing over transgression

for the remnant of His inheritance?

He does not retain His anger forever,

because He delights in covenant love.

He will again have compassion on us;

He will tread our iniquities underfoot.

You will cast all our sins

into the depths of the sea.

You will show faithfulness to Jacob

and covenant love to Abraham,

as You have sworn to our ancestors

from the days of old.