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 counsellor 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, Beth-lehem 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.