The Impending Doom of Samaria and Jerusalem

1 The word of Yahweh that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah, that he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem:

• 2 give heed, O earth and its fullness.
• And let the Lord Yahweh be against you as a witness,
  • the Lord from[fn]
  • 3  and he will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
  • 4  and the valleys will burst open,
• like wax before the fire,
  • like water rushing down a slope.
  • 5 is for the rebellion of Jacob, and for the sins of the house of Israel.
• What is the rebellion of Jacob?
  • Is it not Samaria?
• And what are the high places of Judah?
  • Are they not Jerusalem?
  • 6  a place for planting a vineyard.
• And I will pour down her stones into the valley
  • and uncover her foundations.
  • 7  and all her prostitution wages will be burned in the fire,
  • and all her idols I will make a desolation,
• For from the wage of a prostitute she gathered them,
  • and to the wage of a prostitute they will return.
  • 8  I will go about barefoot and naked.
• I will make a lamentation like the jackals,
  • and a mourning ceremony like the[fn]
  • 9 are incurable, because it has come to Judah.
  • It has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.
  • 10 it in Gath; you must not weep at all.
• In Beth-le-Aphrah
  • roll yourself in dust.
  • 11  in naked shame.
• The inhabitants of Zaanan do not come forth;
  • the wailing of Beth-ha-Ezel will take its protection from you.
  • 12  writhed for good,
• because disaster has come down from Yahweh
  • to the gate of Jerusalem.
  • 13  O inhabitants of Lachish;
• it is the beginning of sin
  • for the daughter of Zion,
• for the transgressions of Israel
  • were found in you.
  • 14  to Moresheth-Gath;
• the houses of Achzib will be a deception
  • to the kings of Israel.
  • 15  O inhabitants of Mareshah;
• the glory of Israel
  • will come to Adullam.
  • 16  and cut off your hair
  • for the children of your pleasure.
• Expand your baldness as the eagle,
  • for they will go into exile away from you.

Woe to the Oppressors of God’s People

• and evil deeds upon their beds!
• In the light of the morning they did it,
  • because they have power in their hands.
  • 2 them, and houses, and they take them away.
• They oppress a man and his house;
  • a man and his inheritance.

3 Therefore, thus says Yahweh: Look! I am planning disaster against this family from which you will not be able to remove your necks. You will not walk proudly, for it is a time of disaster.

• 4 and will wail a bitter wailing, saying,
• “We are utterly ruined;
  • he exchanges the portion of my people.
• How he removes it from me;
  • he apportions our field to an apostate.”
  • 5  in the assembly of Yahweh.
  • 6  They should not preach to these;
  • disgrace will not overtake us.
  • 7 this be said, O house of Jacob? Is the patience[fn] of Yahweh shortened?
  • Are these his deeds?
• Are my words not pleasing
  • to him who walks upright?
  • 8 [fn] my people have risen up as an enemy; from before the cloak you strip off the robe
• from those passing by in confidence,
  • returning from war.
  • 9  from the houses of their[fn] pleasure.
• From their[fn] children you have taken away
  • my glory forever.
  • 10  for this is no resting place,
• on account of uncleanness that destroys
  • with painful destruction.
  • 11  saying “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,”
  • then he would be a preacher for this people!
  • 12  I will surely gather together the remainder of Israel.
• I will set them like sheep of Bozrah.
• Like a herd in the midst of their pasture
  • they will be in tumult from people.
  • 13  they break through and pass the gate,
  • going out through it.
• Their king passes before them,
  • Yahweh at their head.

Israel’s Leaders Denounced

• “Listen, O heads of Jacob
  • and leaders of the house of Israel!
  • Is it not for you to know justice?
  • 2 Those of you who are haters of good and lovers of evil,
• who tear their skin from them
  • and their flesh from their bones,
  • 3  and strip their skin from them,
• and break their bones,
  • and chop them like meat in the pot,
  • and like flesh in the midst of a cooking pot.”
  • 4  but he will not answer them.
• He will hide his face from them at that time,
  • when they have made their deeds evil.
  • 5  who are leading my people astray,
• who are biting with their teeth
  • and proclaim, “Peace,”
• but whoever puts nothing into their mouths
  • they declare war against.
  • 6 it will be as night to you, without vision, and darkness to you, without divination.
• And the sun will set on the prophets,
  • and the day will grow dark over them.
  • 7  and those practicing divination will be put to shame.
• All of them will cover their lips,
  • for there is no reply from God.
  • 8 with power, with the Spirit of Yahweh,
• and with justice and might,
  • to declare to Jacob his rebellion,
  • and to Israel his sin.
  • 9  and leaders of the house of Israel,
• those detesting justice
  • and perverting all that is right,
  • 10  and Jerusalem with wickedness.
  • 11  its priests teach for a price;
  • its prophets practice divination for money.
• But they lean on Yahweh, saying,
  • “ Is not Yahweh in our midst?
  • Disaster will not come upon us.”
  • 12  Zion will be plowed as a field,
• and Jerusalem will be a heap of rubble,
  • and[fn] as a high place in a forest.

The Mountain of Yahweh

• the mountain of Yahweh
  • will be established as the highest of the mountains,
• and it will be lifted up above the hills,
  • and people will stream to it.
• 2  “Come! Let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh,
  • and to the[fn] of the God of Jacob,
• that he may teach us his ways,
  • and that we may walk in his paths,”
• for the law will go out from Zion,
  • and the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.
  • 3  and will arbitrate for strong nations far away;
• and they will beat their swords into plowshares
  • and their spears into pruning hooks;
• nation will not lift up a sword against a nation,
  • and they will no longer learn war.
  • 4  and under his fig tree,
• and no one will make them afraid,
  • for the mouth of Yahweh of hosts has spoken.
  • 5  each in the name of its god,
• but we will walk in the name of Yahweh our God,
  • forever and ever.

Yahweh Will Deliver Zion

• 6 [fn] “I will assemble the one who limps,
• and I will gather the one who has been scattered,
  • and those whom I have mistreated.
  • 7  and the one driven far away a strong nation,
• and Yahweh will reign over them on Mount Zion
  • from now to forever.
  • 8 [fn] hill of the daughter of Zion,
• to you it will come,
  • and the former dominion will come,
  • the reign of the daughter of Jerusalem.
  • 9  Is there no king in you?
• Has your counselor perished
  • that pangs like a woman in labor have seized you?
  • 10  like a woman in labor.
• For now you will go forth from the city,
  • and you will camp in the field;
  • you will go to Babylon.
• There you will be rescued;
  • there Yahweh will redeem you
  • from the hand of your enemies.
  • 11  who are saying, ‘Let her be defiled,
  • and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.’
  • 12  and they do not understand his plan,
• that he has gathered them as sheaves
  • to his threshing floor.
  • 13  for your horn I will make as iron
  • and your hooves as bronze.
• And you will break many peoples in pieces,
  • and their gain you will devote to destruction to Yahweh,
  • and their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.”

A Ruler from Bethlehem

• a siege he puts against us.
• They strike the ruler of Israel
  • with a rod on the cheek.
  • 2  too small to be among the clans of Judah,
• from you one will go out for me,
  • to be ruler in Israel;
• and his origins are from of old,
  • from ancient days.
  • 3  until the time of she who is with child has given birth.
• And the rest of his brothers will return
  • to the children of Israel.
  • 4 his flock in the strength of Yahweh,
  • in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God.
• And they will live,
  • for now he will be great unto the ends of the earth.
• 5  As for the Assyrian,[fn] when he comes into our land
  • and when he treads on our fortresses,
• then we will raise up against him seven shepherds
  • and eight leaders of men.
  • 6  and the land of Nimrod at its entrances.
• And he will rescue us from the Assyrian[fn]
  • when he comes into our land,
  • and when they tread upon our border.

A Remnant Delivered

• 7 in the midst of many nations,
• like dew from Yahweh,
  • like showers upon the grass
• which does not wait for a man,
  • nor delays for the children of humankind.
  • 8  in the midst of many peoples,
• like a lion among the wild animals of the forest,
  • like a young lion among the herds of sheep
• which, when it passes through and treads down
  • and tears in pieces, there is none who can deliver.
  • 9  and all your foes will be cut off.
  • 10 that in that day,”[fn] Yahweh, “then I will cut off your horses from among you,
  • and I will destroy your chariots.
  • 11  and I will demolish all your fortifications.
  • 12  and you will not have soothsayers.
  • 13  and your stone pillars from among you,
• and you will no longer bow down
  • to the work of your hands.
  • 14  and I will destroy your cities.
• And in anger and in wrath I will execute vengeance
  • on the nations who did not obey.”

Yahweh Brings a Charge against Israel

• “Arise! Plead your case with the mountains,
  • and let the hills hear your voice.”
  • 2  and you eternal foundations of the earth,
• for Yahweh has an indictment against his people,
  • and against Israel he contends.
  • 3  and how have I wearied you? Answer me!
  • 4  and from the house of slavery I redeemed you.
  • And I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam before you.
  • 5  and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
• and what happened from Shittim to Gilgal,
  • so that you might know the righteous acts of Yahweh.”

What Does Yahweh Require?

• 6 and bow down to God on high?
• Shall I approach him with burnt offerings,
  • with bull calves a year old?
  • 7  with myriads of rivers of oil?
• Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
  • the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
  • 8 is good, and what does Yahweh ask from you
• but to do justice, and to love kindness,
  • and to walk humbly with your God?

The Destruction of the Wicked

• 9 (it is sound judgment to fear your name):
• “Hear, O staff![fn] Now who has appointed it?
• 10 in the house of the wicked treasures of wickedness,
• and the ephah of scarcity which is accursed?[fn]
• 11 the one with scales of wickedness, and with a bag of deceitful weights?
• 12  and her inhabitants speak lies,
• and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
• 13 [fn] making you desolate because of your sins.
• 14  your hunger will be in your midst,
• and you will put away, but you will not save,
  • and what you save I will hand over to the sword.
  • 15  you will tread olives, but you will not anoint yourself with oil;
  • you will tread grapes, but you will not drink wine.
  • 16  and all the works of the house of Ahab.
• And you have walked in their counsels,
  • so that I am making you a desolation
• and your inhabitants an object of scorn.
  • So you will bear the scorn of my people.

Wait Upon Yahweh

• like the gatherings of summer,
• like the gleanings of the grape harvest,
• when there is no cluster of grapes to eat
  • or early ripened fruit that my soul desires.
  • 2 person has perished from the land, and there is none who is upright among humankind.
• All of them lie in wait;
  • each hunts his brother with a net.
  • 3 are upon evil, to do it well; the official and the judge ask for the bribe,
• and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;
  • and they weave it together.
  • 4 is like a brier; the most upright worse than a thorn hedge.
• The day of your watchman, your punishment, has come;
  • now their confusion will come.
  • 5  put no trust in a close friend.
• Guard the doorways of your mouth
  • from the one who lies in your lap.
  • 6  a daughter rises up against her mother,
• a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
  • the enemies of a man are the men of his own house.
  • 7 as for me, I will look to Yahweh; I will wait for the God of my salvation.
  • My God will hear me.
  • 8  When I fall I will stand up;
• when I sit in darkness
  • Yahweh will be a light for me.
  • 9  for I have sinned against him,
• until he pleads my cause
  • and executes my justice.
• He will bring me out to the light;
  • I will see his righteousness.
  • 10  and shame will cover her who said to me,
• “Where is Yahweh your God?”
  • My eyes will look upon her;
• now she will become a trampling place,
  • like mud in the streets.
  • 11  on that day he will extend your boundary.
  • 12 On that day he will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
• and from Egypt to the River,
  • and from sea to sea
  • and mountain to mountain.
  • 13  because of its inhabitants,
  • for the fruit of their deeds.
  • 14  the flock of your inheritance,
• those dwelling alone in a forest
  • in the midst of Carmel.
• Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,
  • as in the days of old.
  • 15 in the days when you came out from the land of Egypt
  • I will show him wondrous things.
  • 16  because of all their might.
• They will lay the hand on the mouth;
  • their ears will be deaf.
  • 17  like the crawling things of the earth.
• They will come trembling from their strongholds
  • to Yahweh our God.
  • Let them fear and be afraid of you.
  • 18 is a God like you, forgiving sin and passing over rebellion for the remnant of his inheritance?
• He does not retain his anger forever,
  • for he delights in loyal love.
  • 19 [fn] on us; he will trample our iniquities.
• And you will hurl all their sins
  • in the depths of the sea.
  • 20  and loyal love to Abraham,
• as you have sworn to our ancestors[fn]
  • from the days of old.