Chapter 1
1 The word of the Lord, which was addressed to Micah of Moresh, in the days of Johanan, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, of whom he had a vision concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Listen, YOU All you peoples! Listen, O earth, with all that fills you! The Lord Yahweh will testify against you, the Lord, from his holy temple!
3 For behold, Yahweh is about to come out of his dwelling place; he will come down, he will tread upon the heights of the earth.
4 The mountains will melt beneath his not, The valleys will split, like wax before the fire, like water poured down a slope.
5 All this because of Jacob’s transgression and the sins of the house of Israel. What is Jacob’s transgression? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?
6 I will make Samaria a heap of stones in a field, a place to plant a vineyard; I will roll its stones into the valley, and I will lay bare its foundations.
7 All her statues will be broken; and all her wages consumed by fire; I will make ruin of all her idols, for she has amassed them with the wages of prostitution, and they will become again the wages of prostitution.
8 Because of this, I will wail and howl, I will walk naked and stripped; I will wail like a jackal, and sigh like an ostrich.
9 For his plague is deadly; for it comes to Judah, it reaches the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.
10 Do not proclaim it in Geth; do not weep in Acco! In Beth-Aphra I will roll in the dust.
11 Pass by, inhabitant of Sapphire, in shameful nakedness! The inhabitant of Zoanan has not gone out; the mourning of Beth-Haezel deprives you of her shelter.
12 The inhabitant of Maroth is in distress because of his goods; for disaster has come down from Yahweh upon the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the chariot to the steed, inhabitant of Lachish; this was the beginning of sin for the daughter of Zion, that the iniquities of Israel were found in you.
14 Therefore you will give up possessing Moresheth of Geth; the houses of Achzib will be a disappointment to the kings of Israel.
15 I will bring you a conqueror, inhabitant of Mareshah; the nobility of Israel will go as far as Odollam.
16 Pluck out your hair, shave it off, because of your beloved children; make yourself bald like a vulture, for they are going into captivity far From you!
Chapter 2
1 Woe to those who plot iniquity and prepare evil on their beds! At daybreak they carry it out, when it is in their power.
2 They covet the fields and seize them, the houses, and take possession of them; they do violence to man and to his house, to the master and to his inheritance.
3 Therefore this is what the Lord says: “I am planning an evil against this generation from which you cannot escape, and you will no longer walk the head high, because it will be bad weather.
4 On that day a proverb will be spoken about you, and a lament will be sung:
»"It's all over," they will say, "we are completely devastated: he is alienating my people's share! How can he take it from me? He is distributing our fields to the infidels?"«
5 Therefore you shall have no one to stretch out the measuring line in your house for a portion of the inheritance in the assembly of Yahweh.
6 — “Do not prophesy anymore,” they prophesy. “If we do not prophesy to these people, their disgrace will not depart.”.
7 You who are called the house of Jacob, is the Lord without patience? Are these his works?
— Are my words not kind to the one who walks uprightly?
8 Yesterday my people rose up as adversaries: you tear off the robe from under the robe; those who pass by without trusting, you treat as enemies.
9 You hunt women of my people, of their beloved homes; you take away my glory forever from their little children!
10 Get up! Go away…, because this country is not a place of rest, because of the defilement which YOU will torment, and with cruel torment.
11 If there was a man chasing after the wind and spouting lies, saying "I will prophesy wine and beer to you!" This would be the prophet of this people.
12 I will gather all of you, O Jacob, I will assemble the remnant of Israel; I will group them together like sheep in a fold; like a flock in the midst of its pen, so shall the multitude of men cry out.
13 The one who breaks through goes up before them; they break through, they go through the gate, and through it they go out; their king goes before them, and Yahweh is at their head.
Chapter 3
1 I said, “Listen now, you leaders of Jacob, and you officials of the house of Israel! Is it not for you to know the law?”,
2 You who hate good and love evil, who tear off their outer skin the body, And the flesh above the bones?
3 They devour the flesh of my people; they tear off their skin. the body, They break his bones, they cut them to pieces like what is in the pot; and like meat in a cauldron.
4 Then they will cry out to Yahweh, but he will not answer them; he will hide his face from them at that time, according to the wickedness they have put into their actions.
5 This is what the Lord says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray, who, while their teeth still have something to bite into, proclaim peace, and declare war on anyone who doesn't put anything in their mouths:
6 »Therefore you shall have night instead of visions, and darkness instead of divination; the sun shall set for the prophets, and the day shall grow dark for them.
7 The seers will be ashamed, and the diviners will blush with shame; they will all cover their beards, for there will be no more answer from God.«
8 But I am filled with power, with the spirit of Yahweh, and with judgment and with courage, to declare to Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin.
9 Listen to this, you leaders of the house of Jacob, and you officials of the house of Israel, who abhor justice and pervert what is right,
10 building Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity!
11 Her leaders judge for a bribe, her priests teach for a fee, and her prophets practice divination for money; they rely on the Lord, saying, »Is not the Lord among us? No harm can come upon us!«
12 Therefore, because of you, Zion will become a plowed field, Jerusalem a heap of ruins, and the temple mount a wooded high place!
Chapter 4
1 In the latter days the mountain of the house of the Lord will be established as the highest of the mountains, and exalted above the hills.
And nations will flock to it.
2 Many peoples will come and say, »Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.«
For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 He will be the arbiter for many nations, and the judge for mighty peoples far and wide.
They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into sickles; nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they learn the war.
4 They will sit each under his own vine and under his own fig tree, with no one to THE to disturb; for the mouth of Yahweh of hosts has spoken.
5 For all peoples walk each in the name of their god; but we walk in the name of Yahweh our God, forever and ever.
6 On that day, declares the Lord, I will gather those who are lame, I will assemble those who were scattered, and whom I had harmed.
7 And I will make the lame a remnant, and the distant ones a mighty nation. And the Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion from that time forth and forevermore.
8 And you, tower of the flock, hill of the daughter of Zion, it will come to you, it will return to you, the former dominion, the kingdom that belongs to the daughter of Jerusalem.
9 Why do you now cry out? Is there no longer a king in you, and has your counselor perished, that pain has seized you like a woman in childbirth?
10 Be in pain and in labor, daughter of Zion, like one who is giving birth! For now you will go out of the city; and dwell in the fields, and you will go to Babylon; there you will be delivered; there Yahweh will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.
11 And now many nations have gathered against you; they say, »Let her be desecrated, and let our eyes behold Zion!«
12 But they do not know the thoughts of Yahweh, nor do they understand his purposes: know that he gathered them together like sheaves on the threshing floor.
13 Arise and throng, daughter of Zion! For I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hooves bronze; and you will crush many peoples; and I will dedicate their gains to Yahweh, and their riches to the Lord of all the earth.
14 Now, daughter of troops, gather your troops! They have laid siege to us, they strike the judge of Israel on the cheek with the rod.
Chapter 5
1 And you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though small among the thousands of Judah, from you will come for me one who is to rule over Israel, and his origins will date ancient times, days of eternity.
2 Therefore he will give them up until the time when she who is to give birth has given birth; and the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel.
3 He will stand farm, and he will graze his sheep, in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the name of Yahweh, his God; and they will remain safely, for now it shall be great, reaching to the ends of the earth.
4 He is the one who will be peace. When the Assyrian comes to our country, and his foot He will trample our palaces, and we will raise up against him seven shepherds and eight princes of the people.
5 They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod within its gates; We will deliver us from the Assyrian when he comes to our country, and that his foot will tread on our territory.
6 And the remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from the Lord, like raindrops on the grass, which waits for no one, and does not hope in the children of men.
7 And the rest of Jacob will be Also among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep; when it passes through, tramples and tears, no one delivers.
8 Let your hand be raised against your adversaries, and let your enemies be exterminated!
9 On that day, declares the Lord, I will cut off your horses from among you, and I will destroy your chariots.
10 I will ruin the cities of your country, and I will demolish all your fortresses.
11 I will remove the sorceries from your hand, and there will no longer be any soothsayers among you.
12 I will destroy your idols and your pillars from among you, and you will no longer worship the work of your hands.
13 I will uproot your Asherahs from among you, and I will destroy your cities.
14 And in my anger and in my fury, I will take vengeance on the peoples who have not listened.
Chapter 6
1 Listen then to what Yahweh says:
— Arise and pour out your quarrel before the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice!
2 Listen, mountains, to the quarrel of Yahweh, and YOU, unchanging foundations of the earth! For Yahweh has a quarrel with his people; and he will plead against Israel.
3 My people, what have I done to you? How have I caused you pain? Answer me.
4 For I brought you up out of the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron and Married.
5 My people, remember therefore the advice that Balak, king of Moab, gave, and what Balaam, son of Beor, answered him; remember from Setim to Gilgal, so that you Know the justice of Yahweh.
6 With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow down before the 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 myriads of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my iniquity, the fruit of my womb for the sin of my soul?
8 He has shown you, O man, what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
9 The voice of Yahweh cries to the city, — and it is wise to heed your name: — Listen to the rod, and to him who commanded it!
10 Are there still in the house of the wicked wicked treasures, and a diminished, abominable ephah?
11 Shall I be pure with unjust scales, and with false weights in the bag?
12 The rich of this city are full of violence, its inhabitants utter lies, and their tongue is nothing but deceit in their mouth.
13 I, in turn, will strike you with deadly blows, I will devastate you because of your sins.
14 You will eat, but not be satisfied, and your hunger will be within you; you will carry away, but save nothing, and what you save, I will give to the sword.
15 You shall sow, but you shall not reap; you shall press the olives, but you shall not anoint yourself with oil; the new wine, but you shall not drink the wine.
16 You observe the ordinances of Amri, and all the practices of the house of Ahab, and you walk according to their advice, so that I may deliver you to destruction, and the inhabitants of country to the jeers, and that you bear the reproach of my people.
Chapter 7
1 Alas! I am like after the harvest of summer fruits, like after the gleaning of the grape harvest: not a single bunch to eat! not one the first figs that My soul desires!
2 The godly man has disappeared from the earth, and there is no longer a righteous man among men.
They all lie in ambush to spread blood; each hunts his brother and handing it to him the net.
3. Evil, there are hands to do good; the prince demands, the judge made his price, and the great man manifests his greed; thus they weave their plot together.
4 The best of them is like a thorn; the straightest, worse than a bramble hedge.
— The day announcement by your sentinels, the day From your punishment has come; now they will be in confusion!
5 Do not trust a friend, do not rely on a close companion; before her who lies in your bosom, guard the words of your mouth!
6 For the son calls his father a fool; the daughter rebels against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the members of his own household.
7 But I will look to the Lord, I will hope in the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.
8 Do not rejoice over me, O my enemy; for though I have fallen, I shall rise again; though I am seat In the darkness, Yahweh is my light.
9 I will bear the wrath of Yahweh, because I have sinned against him, until he takes up my cause and establishes my right; he will bring me out into the light, I will behold his righteousness.
10 Let my enemy see it, and let shame cover her, she who said to me, »Where is Yahweh, your God?» My eyes will behold her; now she will be trampled underfoot, like the mud of the streets.
11 The day is coming when your walls will be rebuilt; on that day the decree will be revoked.
12 On that day people will come to you from Assyria and from the cities of Egypt, from Egypt to the river, from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
13 The land will become a desert because of its inhabitants: that's it the fruit of their actions.
14 Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, which dwells alone in the forest, in the midst of Carmel; let them graze in Bashan and Gilead, as in days of old!
15 As on the day you came out of the land of Egypt, I will show him wonders.
16 The nations will see it, and will be ashamed of all their power; they will put their hands over their mouths; their ears will be deafened.
17 They will lick the dust like a snake; like the reptiles of the earth, they will come out with dread of their retreats; they will come trembling before Yahweh, our God, and they will fear you.
18 Who is a God like you, who pardon iniquity and forgive transgression from the remnant of your inheritance? He does not always retain his anger, because he delights in TO DO grace.
19 He will again have mercy on us, he will again trample our iniquities underfoot! You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea;
20 you will do see To Jacob your faithfulness, to Abraham mercy, which you swore to our fathers from days of old.
