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. {1:2} 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. {1:3} For, behold, the LORD cometh
forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high
places of the earth. {1:4} 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. {1:5} 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? {1:6}
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. {1:7} 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. {1:8} 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. {1:9} For her wound [is] incurable;
for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people,
[even] to Jerusalem.

   {1:10} Declare ye [it] not at Gath, weep ye not at all: in the house
of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust. {1:11} Pass ye away, thou
inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked: the inhabitant of Zaanan
came not forth in the mourning of Beth-ezel; he shall receive of you
his standing. {1:12} For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for
good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem.
{1:13} 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. {1:14} Therefore shalt
thou give presents to Moresheth-gath: the houses of Achzib [shall be] a
lie to the kings of Israel. {1:15} Yet will I bring an heir unto thee,
O inhabitant of Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam the glory of
Israel. {1:16} Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children;
enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity
from thee.

   {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. {2:2} 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. {2:3} 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.

   {2:4} 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. {2:5} Therefore thou shalt
have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the congregation of the
LORD. {2:6} Prophesy ye not, [say they to them that] prophesy: they
shall not prophesy to them, [that] they shall not take shame.

   {2:7} 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? {2:8} 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. {2:9} The women of my people have ye
cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken
away my glory for ever. {2:10} Arise ye, and depart; for this [is] not
[your] rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy [you,] even with
a sore destruction. {2:11} 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.

   {2:12} 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. {2:13} 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.

   {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? {3:2} Who
hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off
them, and their flesh from off their bones; {3:3} 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. {3:4} 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.

   {3:5} 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. {3:6}
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.
{3:7} Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded:
yea, they shall all cover their lips; for [there is] no answer of God.

   {3:8} 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. {3:9} 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. {3:10} They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem
with iniquity. {3:11} 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. {3:12} 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.

   {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. {4:2} 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.

   {4:3} 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. {4:4} 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. ]{4:5} 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. {4:6} 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; {4:7} 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.

   {4:8} 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. {4:9} 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. {4:10} 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.

   {4:11} Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say,
Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. {4:12} 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. {4:13} 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.

   {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. {5:2} 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. {5:3} 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.

   {5:4} 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. {5:5} 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. {5:6} 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. {5:7}
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.

   {5:8} 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. {5:9} Thine
hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies
shall be cut off. {5:10} 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: {5:11} And I will cut off the cities of
thy land, and throw down all thy strong holds: {5:12} And I will cut
off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no [more]
soothsayers: {5:13} 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. {5:14} And I will pluck up thy groves
out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities. {5:15} And I
will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they
have not heard.

   {6:1} Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before
the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. {6:2} 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. {6:3} O my people, what have I done unto thee? and
wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. {6:4} 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. {6:5} 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.

   {6:6} 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? {6:7} 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? {6:8} 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? {6:9} 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.

   {6:10} Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the
wicked, and the scant measure [that is] abominable? {6:11} Shall I
count [them] pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of
deceitful weights? {6:12} For the rich men thereof are full of
violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their
tongue [is] deceitful in their mouth. {6:13} Therefore also will I make
[thee] sick in smiting thee, in making [thee] desolate because of thy
sins. {6:14} 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. {6:15} 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.

   {6:16} 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.

   {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. {7:2} 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.

   {7:3} 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. {7:4} 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.

   {7:5} 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. {7:6} 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. {7:7} Therefore I will look unto the
LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.

   {7:8} 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.
{7:9} 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. {7:10} 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. {7:11} [In] the day that thy walls are to be built,
[in] that day shall the decree be far removed. {7:12} [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. {7:13} Notwithstanding the
land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the
fruit of their doings.

   {7:14} 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. {7:15} According to
the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him
marvellous [things.]

   {7:16} The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might:
they shall lay [their] hand upon [their] mouth, their ears shall be
deaf. {7:17} 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. {7:18} 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. {7:19} 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. {7:20}
Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, [and] the mercy to Abraham, which
thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.