11 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 .
12 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 .
13 For behold the LORD cometh forth out of his place and will
come down and tread upon the high places of the earth .
14 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 .
15 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 .
16 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 .
17 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
.
18 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 .
19 For her wound is incurable for it is come unto Judah he is
come unto the gate of my people even to Jerusalem .
110 Declare ye it not at Gath weep ye not at all in the house
of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust .
111 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 .
112 For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good but
evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem .
113 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 .
114 Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moreshethgath the
houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel .
115 Yet will I bring an heir unto thee O inhabitant of
Mareshah he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel .
116 Make thee bald and poll thee for thy delicate children
enlarge thy baldness as the eagle for they are gone into
captivity from thee .
* 21 Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their
beds when the morning is light they practice it because it is in
the power of their hand .
22 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 .
23 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 .
24 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 .
25 Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by
lot in the congregation of the LORD .
26 Prophesy ye not say they to them that prophesy they shall
not prophesy to them that they shall not take shame .
27 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 .
28 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 .
29 The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant
houses from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever .
210 Arise ye and depart for this is not your rest because it
is polluted it shall destroy you even with a sore destruction .
211 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 .
212 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 .
213 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 .
* 31 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 .
32 Who hate the good and love the evil who pluck off their
skin from off them and their flesh from off their bones .
33 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 .
34 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 .
35 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 .
36 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 .
37 Then shall the seers be ashamed and the diviners confounded
yea they shall all cover their lips for there is no answer of
God .
38 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 .
39 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 .
310 They build up Zion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity .
311 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 .
312 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 .
* 41 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 .
42 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 .
43 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 .
44 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 .
45 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 .
46 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 .
47 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 .
48 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 .
49 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 .
410 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 .
411 Now also many nations are gathered against thee that say
Let her be defiled and let our eye look upon Zion .
412 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 .
413 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 .
* 51 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 .
52 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 .
53 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 .
54 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 .
55 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 .
56 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 .
57 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 .
58 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 .
59 Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries and
all thine enemies shall be cut off .
510 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 .
511 And I will cut off the cities of thy land and throw down
all thy strong holds .
512 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand and thou
shalt have no more soothsayers .
513 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 .
514 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee so
will I destroy thy cities .
515 And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the
heathen such as they have not heard .
* 61 Hear ye now what the LORD saith Arise contend thou before
the mountains and let the hills hear thy voice .
62 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 .
63 O my people what have I done unto thee and wherein have I
wearied thee testify against me .
64 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 .
65 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 .
66 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 .
67 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 .
68 He hath showed 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 .
69 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 .
610 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of
the wicked and the scant measure that is abominable .
611 Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances and with
the bag of deceitful weights .
612 For the rich men thereof are full of violence and the
inhabitants thereof have spoken lies and their tongue is
deceitful in their mouth .
613 Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee in
making thee desolate because of thy sins .
614 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 .
615 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 .
616 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 .
* 71 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 .
72 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 .
73 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 .
74 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 .
75 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 .
76 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 .
77 Therefore I will look unto the LORD I will wait for the God
of my salvation my God will hear me .
78 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 .
79 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 .
710 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 .
711 In the day that thy walls are to be built in that day
shall the decree be far removed .
712 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 .
713 Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them
that dwell therein for the fruit of their doings .
714 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 .
715 According to the days of thy coming out of the land of
Egypt will I show unto him marvellous things .
716 The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might
they shall lay their hand upon their mouth their ears shall be
deaf .
717 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 .
718 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 .
719 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 .
720 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob and the mercy to
Abraham which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of
old .
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