THE BOOK MICAH
King James Version
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.