CHAPTER 1
<<MĪ‑́CĂH>> The word of the LORD that came to Mī‑́căh the Mō‑răs‑́thīte in the days of Jō‑́thăm, Ā‑́hăz, [and] Hĕz‑ē‑kī‑́ăh, kings of Jûd‑́ăh, which he saw concerning Să‑mâr‑́ĭ‑ă and Jĕ‑rû‑́să‑lĕm.
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 Jā‑́co̱b [is] all this, and for the sins of the house of Ĭṡ‑́rā‑ĕl. What [is] the transgression of Jā‑́co̱b? [is it] not Să‑mâr‑́ĭ‑ă? and what [are] the high places of Jûd‑́ăh? [are they] not Jĕ‑rû‑́să‑lĕm?
6 Therefore I will make Să‑mâr‑́ĭ‑ă 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 Jûd‑́ăh; he is come unto the gate of my people, [even] to Jĕ‑rû‑́să‑lĕm.
10 ¶ Declare ye [it] not at Găth, weep ye not at all: in the house of Ăph‑́răh roll thy­self in the dust.
11 Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Sā‑́phĭr, having thy shame naked: the inhabitant of Zā‑́ă‑năn came not forth in the mourning of Bĕth–ē‑́zĕl; he shall receive of you his standing.
12 For the inhabitant of Mâr‑́ōth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jĕ‑rû‑́să‑lĕm.
13 O thou inhabitant of Lā‑́c͟hĭsh, bind the chariot to the swift beast: she [is] the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zī‑́o̱n: for the transgressions of Ĭṡ‑́rā‑ĕl were found in thee.
14 Therefore shalt thou give presents to Mō‑́rĕsh‑ĕth–găth: the houses of Ăc͟h‑́zĭb [shall be] a lie to the kings of Ĭṡ‑́rā‑ĕl.
15 Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mă‑rē‑́shäh: he shall come unto Ă‑dŭl‑́lăm the glory of Ĭṡ‑́rā‑ĕl.
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.
CHAPTER 2
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 Jā‑́co̱b, 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 Jā‑́co̱b, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Ĭṡ‑́rā‑ĕl; I will put them together as the sheep of Bŏz‑́răh, 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.
CHAPTER 3
And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jā‑́co̱b, and ye princes of the house of Ĭṡ‑́rā‑ĕl; [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 Jā‑́co̱b his transgression, and to Ĭṡ‑́rā‑ĕl his sin.
9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jā‑́co̱b, and princes of the house of Ĭṡ‑́rā‑ĕl, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.
10 They build up Zī‑́o̱n with blood, and Jĕ‑rû‑́să‑lĕm 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 Zī‑́o̱n for your sake be plowed [as] a field, and Jĕ‑rû‑́să‑lĕm shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the high places of the forest.
CHAPTER 4
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 Jā‑́co̱b; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zī‑́o̱n, and the word of the LORD from Jĕ‑rû‑́să‑lĕm.
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 Zī‑́o̱n from hence­forth, even for ever.
8 ¶ And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zī‑́o̱n, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jĕ‑rû‑́să‑lĕm.
9 Now why dost thou cry out aloud? [is there] no king in thee? is thy counseller perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.
10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zī‑́o̱n, 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 Băb‑́y̆‑lo̱n; 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 Zī‑́o̱n.
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 Zī‑́o̱n: 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.
CHAPTER 5
Now gather thy­self in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Ĭṡ‑́rā‑ĕl with a rod upon the cheek.
2 But thou, Bĕth–́lĕ‑hĕm Ĕph‑́ră‑tăh, [though] thou be little among the thousands of Jûd‑́ăh, [yet] out of thee shall he come forth unto me [that is] to be ruler in Ĭṡ‑́rā‑ĕl; 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 Ĭṡ‑́rā‑ĕl.
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 Ăs‑sy̆r‑́ĭ‑ăn 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 Ăs‑sy̆r‑́ĭ‑ă with the sword, and the land of Nĭm‑́rŏd in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver [us] from the Ăs‑sy̆r‑́ĭ‑ăn, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.
7 And the remnant of Jā‑́co̱b 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 Jā‑́co̱b shall be among the Ġĕn‑́tīleṡ 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.
CHAPTER 6
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 Ĭṡ‑́rā‑ĕl.
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 Ē‑́ġy̆pt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Mō‑́ṡĕṡ, A᷍a‑́ro̱n, and Mĭr‑́ĭ‑ăm.
5 O my people, remember now what Bā‑́lăk king of Mō‑́ăb consulted, and what Bā‑́la̅a̅m the son of Bē‑́ôr answered him from Shĭt‑́tĭm unto Gĭl‑́găl; 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 Ŏm‑́rī are kept, and all the works of the house of Ā‑́hăb, 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.
CHAPTER 7
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 Ăs‑sy̆r‑́ĭ‑ă, 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 Cär‑́mĕl: let them feed [in] Bā‑́shăn and Gĭl‑́ĕ‑ăd, as in the days of old.
15 According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Ē‑́ġy̆pt 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 Jā‑́co̱b, [and] the mercy to Ā‑́bră‑hăm, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.