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The Holy
Bible
Micah
Chapter 1
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 Beth-ezel; 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 Moresheth-gath:
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.
Chapter 2
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.
Chapter 3
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.
Chapter 4
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 counseller 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.
Chapter 5
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.
Chapter 6
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.
Chapter 7
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.
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