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 Chapter 1
1:1 And the word of the Lord came to
Michaeas the son of Morasthi, in the days of Joatham, and Achaz, and Ezekias,
kings of Juda, concerning what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Hear these words, ye people;
and let the earth give heed, and all that are in it: and the Lord God shall be
among you for a testimony, the Lord out of his holy habitation.
3 For, behold, the Lord comes forth out of
his place, and will come down, and will go upon the high places of the earth.
4 And the mountains shall be shaken
under him, and the valleys shall melt like wax before the fire, and as water
rushing down a declivity.
5 All these calamities are for
the transgression of Jacob, and for the sin of the house of Israel. What is the
transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what is the sin of the
house of Juda? is it not Jerusalem? 6
Therefore I will make Samaria as a store-house of the
fruits of the field, and as a planting of a vineyard: and I will utterly
demolish her stones, and I will expose her foundations. 7
And they shall cut in pieces all the graven images, and
all that she has hired they shall burn with fire, and I will utterly destroy all
her idols: because she has gathered of the hires of fornication, and of the
hires of fornication has she amassed wealth.
8 Therefore shall she lament and wail,
she shall go barefooted, and being naked she shall make lamentation as
that of serpents, and mourning as of the daughters of sirens.
9 For her plague has become grievous; for
it has come even to Juda; and has reached to the gate of my people, even to
Jerusalem.
10 Ye that are in Geth, exalt not
yourselves, and ye Enakim, do not rebuild from the ruins of the house in
derision: sprinkle dust in the place of your laughter.
11 The inhabitant of Sennaar, fairly
inhabiting her cities, came not forth to mourn for the house next to her: she
shall receive of you the stroke of grief.
12 Who has begun to act for good
to her that dwells in sorrow? for calamities have come down from the Lord upon
the gates of Jerusalem, 13 even
a sound of chariots and horsemen: the inhabitants of Lachis, she is the leader
of sin to the daughter of Sion: for in thee were found the transgressions of
Israel. 14 Therefore shall he cause
men to be sent forth as far as the inheritance of Geth, even vain houses;
they are become vanity to the kings of Israel; 15
until they bring the heirs, O inhabitant of Lachis: the
inheritance shall reach to Odollam, even the glory of the daughter of
Israel. 16 Shave thine hair, and
make thyself bald for thy delicate children; increase thy widowhood as an eagle;
for thy people are gone into captivity from thee.
Chapter 2
2:1 They meditated troubles, and wrought
wickedness on their beds, and they put it in execution with the daylight; for
they have not lifted up their hands to God. 2
And they desired fields, and plundered orphans, and oppressed
families, and spoiled a man and his house, even a man and his inheritance.
3 Therefore thus saith the Lord; Behold,
I devise evils against this family, out of which ye shall not lift up your
necks, neither shall ye walk upright speedily: for the time is evil.
4 In that day shall a parable be taken
up against you, and a plaintive lamentation shall be uttered, saying, We are
thoroughly miserable: the portion of my people has been measured out with a
line, and there was none to hinder him so as to turn him back; your fields have
been divided. 5 Therefore thou shalt
have no one to cast a line for the lot. 6
Weep not with tears in the assembly of the Lord, neither let
any weep for these things; for he shall not remove the reproaches,
7 who says, The house of Jacob has provoked
the Spirit of the Lord; are not these his practices? Are not the Lord’s words
right with him? and have they not proceeded correctly? 8
Even beforetime my people withstood him as an enemy
against his peace; they have stripped off his skin to remove hope in the
conflict of war. 9 The leaders of my
people shall be cast forth from their luxurious houses; they are rejected
because of their evil practices; draw ye near to the everlasting mountains.
10 Arise thou, and depart; for this is
not thy rest because of uncleanness: ye have been utterly destroyed;
11 ye have fled, no one pursuing you:
thy spirit has framed falsehood, it has dropped on thee for wine and strong
drink. But it shall come to pass, that out of the dropping of this
people, 12 Jacob shall be completely
gathered with all his people: I will surely receive the remnant of
Israel; I will cause them to return together, as sheep in trouble, as a flock in
the midst of their fold: they shall rush forth from among men through the breach
made before them: 13 they have
broken through, and passed the gate, and gone out by it: and their king has gone
out before them, and the Lord shall lead them.
Chapter 3
3:1 And he shall say, Hear now these
words, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and ye remnant of the house of Israel; is
it not for you to know judgment? 2
who hate good, and seek evil; who tear their skins off them, and
their flesh off their bones: 3 even
as they devoured the flesh of my people, and stripped their skins off them, and
broke their bones, and divided them as flesh for the caldron, and as meat
for the pot, 4 thus they shall cry
to the Lord, but he shall not hearken to them; and he shall turn away his face
from them at that time, because they have done wickedly in their practices
against themselves.
5 Thus saith the Lord concerning the
prophets that lead my people astray, that bit with their teeth, and proclaim
peace to them; and when nothing was put into their mouth, they raised up
war against them: 6 therefore there
shall be night to you instead of a vision, and there shall be to you darkness
instead of prophecy; and the sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day
shall be dark upon them. 7 And the
seers of night-visions shall be ashamed, and the prophets shall be laughed to
scorn: and all the people shall speak against them, because there shall be none
to hearken to them. 8 Surely I will
strengthen myself with the Spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of power, to
declare to Jacob his transgressions, and to Israel his sins.
9 Hear now these words, ye chiefs of the
house of Jacob, and the remnant of the house of Israel, who hate judgment, and
pervert all righteousness; 10 who
build up Sion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. 11
The heads thereof have judged for gifts, and the priests
thereof have answered for hire, and her prophets have divined for silver: and
yet they have rested on the Lord, saying, Is not the Lord among us? no evil
shall come upon us. 12 Therefore on
your account Sion shall be ploughed as a field, and Jerusalem shall be as a
storehouse of fruits, and the mountain of the house as a grove of the forest.
Chapter 4
4:1 And at the last days the mountain of
the Lord shall be manifest, established on the tops of the mountains, and it
shall be exalted above the hills; and the peoples shall hasten to it.
2 And many nations shall go, and say, Come,
let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob;
and they shall shew us his way, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Sion
shall go forth a law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 And he shall judge among many peoples,
and shall rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into
ploughshares, and their spears into sickles; and nation shall no more lift up
sword against nation, neither shall they learn to war any more.
4 And every one shall rest under his vine,
and every one under his fig-tree; and there shall be none to alarm them:
for the mouth of the Lord Almighty has spoken these words.
5 For all other nations shall walk
everyone in his own way, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for
ever and ever.
6 In that day, saith the Lord, I will
gather her that is bruised, and will receive her that is cast out, and those
whom I rejected. 7 And I will make
her that was bruised a remnant, and her that was rejected a mighty nation: and
the Lord shall reign over them in mount Sion from henceforth, even for ever.
8 And thou, dark tower of the flock,
daughter of Sion, on thee the dominion shall come and enter in, even the
first kingdom from Babylon to the daughter of Jerusalem. 9
And now, why hast thou known calamities? was there not a
king to thee? or has thy counsel perished that pangs as of a woman in travail
have seized upon thee? 10 Be in
pain, and strengthen thyself, and draw near, O daughter of Sion, as a woman in
travail: for now thou shalt go forth out of the city, and shalt lodge in the
plain, and shalt reach even to Babylon: thence shall the Lord thy God deliver
thee, and thence shall he redeem thee out of the hand of thine enemies.
11 And now have many nations gathered
against thee, saying, We will rejoice, and our eyes shall look upon Sion.
12 But they know not the thought of the
Lord, and have not understood his counsel: for he has gathered them as sheaves
of the floor. 13 Arise, and thresh
them, O daughter of Sion: for I will make thine horns iron, and I will make
thine hoofs brass: and thou shalt utterly destroy many nations, and shalt
consecrate their abundance to the Lord, and their strength to the Lord of all
the earth.
Chapter 5
5:1 Now shall the daughter of Sion
be completely hedged in: he has laid siege against us: they shall smite the
tribes of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
2 And thou, Bethleem, house of Ephratha,
art few in number to be reckoned among the thousands of Juda; yet
out of thee shall one come forth to me, to be a ruler of Israel; and his goings
forth were from the beginning, even from eternity.
3 Therefore shall he appoint them to
wait till the time of her that travails: she shall bring forth, and then
the remnant of their brethren shall return to the children of Israel.
4 And the Lord shall stand, and see, and
feed his flock with power, and they shall dwell in the glory of the name of the
Lord their God: for now shall they be magnified to the ends of the earth.
5 And she shall have peace when Assur
shall come into your land, and when he shall come up upon your country; and
there shall be raised up against him seven shepherds, and eight attacks of men.
6 And they shall tend the Assyrian
with a sword, and the land of Nebrod with her trench: and he shall deliver
you from the Assyrian, when he shall come upon your land, and when he shall
invade your coasts.
7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be
among the Gentiles in the midst of many peoples, as dew falling from the Lord,
and as lambs on the grass; that none may assemble nor resist among the sons of
men. 8 And the remnant of Jacob
shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many nations, as a lion in the
forest among cattle, and as a lion’s whelp among the flocks of sheep,
even as when he goes through, and selects, and carries off his prey, and
there is none to deliver. 9 Thine
hand shall be lifted up against them that afflict thee, and all thine enemies
shall be utterly destroyed.
10 And it shall come to pass in that
day, saith the Lord, that I will utterly destroy the horses out of the
midst of thee, and destroy thy chariots; 11
and I will utterly destroy the cities of thy land, and demolish
all thy strong-holds: 12 and I will
utterly destroy thy sorceries out of thine hands; and there shall be no
soothsayers in thee. 13 And I will
utterly destroy thy graven images, and thy statues out of the midst of thee; and
thou shalt never any more worship the works of thine hands.
14 And I will cut off the groves out of the
midst of thee, and I will abolish thy cities. 15
and I will execute vengeance on the heathen in anger and wrath,
because they hearkened not.
Chapter 6
6:1 Hear now a word: the Lord God has
said; Arise, plead with the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
2 Hear ye, O mountains, the controversy
of the Lord, and ye valleys even the foundations of the earth: for
the Lord has a controversy with his people, and will plead with Israel.
3 O my people, what have I done to
thee? or wherein have I grieved thee? or wherein have I troubled thee? answer
me. 4 For I brought tee up out of
the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, and sent
before thee Moses, and Aaron, and Mariam.
5 O my people, remember now, what
counsel Balac king of Moab took against thee, and what Balaam the son of Beor
answered him, from the reeds to Galgal; that the righteousness of the Lord might
be known.
6 Wherewithal shall I reach the Lord,
and lay hold of my God most high? shall I reach him by
whole-burnt-offerings, by calves of a year old? 7
Will the Lord accept thousands of rams, or ten thousands of fat
goats? should I give my first-born for ungodliness, the fruit of my body for the
sin of my soul? 8 Has it not
been told thee, O man, what is good? or what does the Lord require of
thee, but to do justice, and love mercy, and be ready to walk with the Lord thy
God?
9 The Lord’s voice shall be proclaimed
in the city, and he shall save those that fear his name: hear, O tribe; and who
shall order the city? 10 Is there
not fire, and the house of the wicked heaping up wicked treasures, and that
with the pride of unrighteousness? 11
Shall the wicked be justified by the balanced, or deceitful
weights in the bag, 12 whereby they
have accumulated their ungodly wealth, and they that dwell in the city have
uttered falsehoods, and their tongue has been exalted in their mouth?
13 Therefore will I begin to smite thee;
I will destroy thee in thy sins. 14
Thou shalt eat, and shalt not be satisfied; and there shall be darkness upon
thee; and he shall depart from thee, and thou shalt not escape; and all
that shall escape shall be delivered over to the sword. 15
Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt press
the olive, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with oil; and shalt make
wine, but ye shall drink no wine: and the ordinances of my people shall be
utterly abolished. 16 For thou hast
kept the statues of Zambri, and done all the works of the house of Achaab;
and ye have walked in their ways, that I might deliver thee to utter
destruction, and those that inhabit the city to hissing: and ye shall bear the
reproach of nations.
Chapter 7
7:1 Alas for me! for I am become as one
gathering straw in harvest, and as one gathering grape-gleanings in the
vintage, when there is no cluster for me to eat the first-ripe fruit: alas my
soul! 2 For the godly is perished
from the earth; and there is none among men that orders his way aright:
they all quarrel even to blood: they grievously afflict every one his neighbour:
3 they prepare their hands for
mischief, the prince asks a reward, and the judge speaks flattering
words; it is the desire of their soul: 4
therefore I will take away their goods as a devouring moth, and
as one who acts by a rigid rule in a day of visitation. Woe, woe, thy
times of vengeance are come; now shall be their lamentations.
5 Trust not in friends, and confide not in
guides: beware of thy wife, so as not to commit anything to her.
6 For the son dishonours his father, the
daughter will rise up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her
mother-in-law: those in his house shall be all a man’s enemies.
7 But I will look to the Lord; I will
wait upon God my Saviour: my God will hearken to me.
8 Rejoice not against me, mine enemy;
for I have fallen yet shall arise; for though I should sit in darkness,
the Lord shall be a light to me. 9 I
will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until
he make good my cause: he also shall maintain my right, and shall bring me out
to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.
10 And she that is mine enemy shall see it,
and shall clothe herself with shame, who says, Where is the Lord thy God?
mine eyes shall look upon her: now shall she be for trampling as mire in the
ways.
11 It is the day of making of
brick; that day shall be thine utter destruction, and that day shall utterly
abolish thine ordinances. 12 And thy
cities shall be levelled, and parted among the Assyrians; and thy strong cities
shall be parted from Tyre to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain
to mountain. 13 And the land shall
be utterly desolate together with them that inhabit it, because of the fruit of
their doings.
14 Tend thy people with thy rod, the
sheep of thine inheritance, those that inhabit by themselves the thicket in the
midst of Carmel: they shall feed in the land of Basan, and in the land of Galaad,
as in the days of old.
15 And according to the days of thy
departure out of Egypt shall ye see marvellous things.
16 The nations shall see and be ashamed;
and at all their might they shall lay their hands upon their mouth, their ears
shall be deafened. 17 They shall
lick the dust as serpents crawling on the earth, they shall be confounded in
their holes; they shall be amazed at the Lord our God, and will be afraid of
thee.
18 Who is a God like thee, cancelling
iniquities, and passing over the sins of the remnant of his inheritance? and he
has not kept his anger for a testimony, for he delights in mercy.
19 He will return and have mercy upon us;
he will sink our iniquities, and they shall be cast into the depth of the sea,
even all our sins. 20 He
shall give blessings truly to Jacob, and mercy to Abraam, as thou swarest to our
fathers, according to the former days. |
