Chronological Plan

¹The word of the LORD which came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and which he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem.

²Hear, you peoples, all of you; Listen carefully, earth and all it contains, And may the Lord GOD be a witness against you, The Lord from His holy temple.

³For behold, the LORD is coming forth from His place. He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.

⁴The mountains will melt under Him And the valleys will be split, Like wax before the fire, Like water poured down a steep place.

⁵All this is due to the wrongdoing of Jacob And the sins of the house of Israel. What is the wrongdoing of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? What is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?

⁶For I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the open country, Planting places for a vineyard. I will hurl her stones down into the valley, And lay bare her foundations.

⁷All of her idols will be crushed, All of her earnings will be burned with fire, And all of her images I will make desolate; For she collected them from a prostitute’s earnings, And to the earnings of a prostitute they will return.

⁸Because of this I must mourn and wail, I must go barefoot and naked; I must do mourning like the jackals, And a mourning like the ostriches.

⁹For her wound is incurable, For it has come to Judah; It has reached the gate of my people, Even to Jerusalem.

¹⁰Do not tell it in Gath, Do not weep at all. At Beth-le-aphrah roll yourself in the dust in mourning.

¹¹Go on your way, inhabitant of Shaphir, in shameful nakedness. The inhabitant of Zaanan does not escape. The mourning of Beth-ezel: “He will take from you its support.”

¹²For the inhabitant of Maroth Waits for something good, Because a disaster has come down from the LORD To the gate of Jerusalem.

¹³Harness the chariot to the team of horses, You inhabitant of Lachish— She was the beginning of sin To the daughter of Zion— Because in you were found The rebellious acts of Israel.

¹⁴Therefore you will give parting gifts In behalf of Moresheth-gath; The houses of Achzib will become a deception To the kings of Israel.

¹⁵Moreover, I will bring on you The one who takes possession, You inhabitant of Mareshah. The glory of Israel will enter Adullam.

¹⁶Shave yourself bald, yes, cut off your hair, Because of the children of your delight; Extend your baldness like the eagle, For they will go from you into exile.

¹Woe to those who devise wrongdoing, Who practice evil on their beds! When morning comes, they do it, Because it is in the power of their hands.

²They covet fields, so they seize them; And houses, so they take them. They exploit a man and his house, A person and his inheritance.

³Therefore this is what the LORD says: “Behold, I am planning against this family a catastrophe From which you cannot remove your necks; And you will not walk haughtily, For it will be an evil time.

⁴On that day they will take up against you a song of mocking And utter a song of mourning and say, ‘We are completely destroyed! He exchanges the share of my people; How He removes it from me! To the apostate He apportions our fields.’

⁵Therefore you will have no one applying a measuring line For you by lot in the assembly of the LORD.

⁶‘Do not prophesy,’ so they prophesy. But if they do not prophesy about these things, Insults will not be turned back.

⁷Is it being said, house of Jacob: ‘Is the Spirit of the LORD impatient? Are these His works?’ Do My words not do good For the one walking rightly?

⁸Recently My people have arisen as an enemy— You strip the robe off the garment From unsuspecting passers-by, From those returned from war.

⁹You evict the women of My people, Each one from her pleasant house. From her children you take My splendor forever.

¹⁰Arise and go, For this is no place of rest Because of the uncleanness that brings on destruction, A painful destruction.

¹¹If someone walking after wind and falsehood Had lied and said, ‘I will prophesy to you about wine and liquor,’ He would become a prophet to this people.

¹²“I will certainly assemble all of you, Jacob, I will certainly gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold; Like a flock in the midst of its pasture They will be noisy with people.

¹³The one who breaks through goes up before them; They break through, pass through the gate, and go out by it. So their king passes on before them, And the LORD at their head.”

¹And I said, “Hear now, you leaders of Jacob And rulers of the house of Israel: Is it not for you to know justice?

²You who hate good and love evil, Who tear off their skin from them And their flesh from their bones,

³Who eat the flesh of my people, Strip off their skin from them, Smash their bones, And chop them up as for the pot, And as meat in a cauldron!”

⁴Then they will cry out to the LORD, But He will not answer them. Instead, He will hide His face from them at that time Because they have practiced evil deeds.

⁵This is what the LORD says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray: When they have something to bite with their teeth, They cry out, “Peace!” But against him who puts nothing in their mouths They declare holy war.

⁶Therefore it will be night for you—without vision, And darkness for you—without divination. The sun will go down on the prophets, And the day will become dark over them.

⁷The seers will be put to shame, And the diviners will be ashamed. Indeed, they will all cover their lips Because there is no answer from God.

⁸On the other hand, I am filled with power— With the Spirit of the LORD— And with justice and courage To make known to Jacob his rebellious act, And to Israel his sin.

⁹Now hear this, you heads of the house of Jacob And rulers of the house of Israel, Who despise justice And twist everything that is straight,

¹⁰Who build Zion with bloodshed, And Jerusalem with malice.

¹¹Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe, Her priests teach for pay, And her prophets divine for money. Yet they lean on the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD not in our midst? Catastrophe will not come upon us.”

¹²Therefore on account of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins, And the mountain of the temple will become high places of a forest.

¹And it will come about in the last days That the mountain of the house of the LORD Will be established as the chief of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills, And the peoples will stream to it.

²Many nations will come and say, “Come and let’s go up to the mountain of the LORD And to the house of the God of Jacob, So that He may teach us about His ways, And that we may walk in His paths.” For from Zion will go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

³And He will judge between many peoples And render decisions for mighty, distant nations. Then they will beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation will not lift a sword against nation, And never again will they train for war.

⁴Instead, each of them will sit under his vine And under his fig tree, With no one to make them afraid, Because the mouth of the LORD of armies has spoken.

⁵Though all the peoples walk, Each in the name of his god, As for us, we will walk In the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.

⁶“On that day,” declares the LORD, “I will assemble those who limp And gather the scattered, Those whom I have afflicted.

⁷I will make those who limp a remnant, And those who have strayed a mighty nation, And the LORD will reign over them on Mount Zion From now on and forever.

⁸As for you, tower of the flock, Hill of the daughter of Zion, To you it will come— Yes, the former dominion will come, The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.

⁹“Now, why do you cry out loudly? Is there no king among you, Or has your counselor perished, That agony has gripped you like a woman in childbirth?

¹⁰Writhe and scream, Daughter of Zion, Like a woman in childbirth; For now you will go out of the city, Live in the field, And go to Babylon. There you will be rescued, There the LORD will redeem you From the hand of your enemies.

¹¹And now many nations have been assembled against you Who say, ‘Let her be defiled, And let our eyes gloat over Zion!’

¹²But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD, And they do not understand His plan; For He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

¹³Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion, For I will make your horn iron, And I will make your hoofs bronze, So that you may pulverize many peoples, And dedicate to the LORD their unjust profit, And their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

¹“Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops; They have laid siege against us; With a rod they will strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.

²But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will come forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His times of coming forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.”

³Therefore He will give them up until the time When she who is in labor has given birth. Then the remainder of His kinsmen Will return to the sons of Israel.

⁴And He will arise and shepherd His flock In the strength of the LORD, In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God. And they will remain, Because at that time He will be great To the ends of the earth.

⁵This One will be our peace. When the Assyrian invades our land, When he tramples on our citadels, Then we will raise against him Seven shepherds and eight leaders of people.

⁶They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, The land of Nimrod at its entrances; And He will rescue us from the Assyrian When he invades our land, And when he tramples our territory.

⁷Then the remnant of Jacob Will be among many peoples Like dew from the LORD, Like showers on vegetation That do not wait for man, Or delay for mankind.

⁸The remnant of Jacob Will be among the nations, Among many peoples Like a lion among the animals of the forest, Like a young lion among flocks of sheep, Which, if he passes through, Tramples and tears, And there is no one who can rescue.

⁹Your hand will be lifted up against your adversaries, And all your enemies will be eliminated.

¹⁰“And it will be on that day,” declares the LORD, “That I will eliminate your horses from among you, And destroy your chariots.

¹¹I will also eliminate the cities of your land, And tear down all your fortifications.

¹²I will eliminate sorceries from your hand, And you will have no fortune-tellers.

¹³I will eliminate your carved images And your memorial stones from among you, So that you will no longer bow down To the work of your hands.

¹⁴I will uproot your Asherim from among you, And destroy your cities.

¹⁵And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath On the nations which have not obeyed.”

¹Hear now what the LORD is saying, “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, And let the hills hear your voice.

²Listen, you mountains, to the indictment by the LORD, And you enduring foundations of the earth, Because the LORD has a case against His people; And He will dispute with Israel.

³My people, what have I done to you, And how have I wearied you? Answer Me.

⁴Indeed, I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of slavery, And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

⁵My people, remember now What Balak king of Moab planned And what Balaam son of Beor answered him, And what happened from Shittim to Gilgal, So that you might know the righteous acts of the LORD.”

⁶With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, With yearling calves?

⁷Does the LORD take pleasure in thousands of rams, In ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give Him my firstborn for my wrongdoings, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

⁸He has told you, mortal one, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God?

⁹The voice of the LORD will call to the city— And it is sound wisdom to fear Your name: “Hear, you tribe. Who has designated its time?

¹⁰Is there still a person in the wicked house, Along with treasures of wickedness, And a short measure that is cursed?

¹¹Can I justify dishonest balances, And a bag of fraudulent weights?

¹²For the rich people of the city are full of violence, Her residents speak lies, And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

¹³So also I will make you sick, striking you down, Making you desolate because of your sins.

¹⁴You will eat, but you will not be satisfied, And your filth will be in your midst. You will try to remove valuables for safekeeping, But you will not save it all, And what you do save I will turn over to the sword.

¹⁵You will sow but you will not harvest. You will tread the olive press but will not anoint yourself with oil; And tread out sweet wine, but you will not drink any wine.

¹⁶The statutes of Omri And every work of the house of Ahab are maintained, And you walk by their plans. Therefore I will give you up for destruction, And your inhabitants for derision, And you will suffer the taunting of My people.”

¹Woe to me! For I am Like harvests of summer fruit, like gleanings of grapes. There is not a cluster of grapes left to eat, Nor an early fig, which I crave.

²The godly person has perished from the land, And there is no upright person among mankind. All of them lie in wait for bloodshed; Each of them hunts the other with a net.

³As for evil, both hands do it well. The leader asks for a bribe, also the judge, And the great one speaks the capricious desire of his soul; So they plot it together.

⁴The best of them is like a thorn bush, The most upright like a thorn hedge. The day when you post your watchmen, Your punishment is coming. Then their confusion will occur.

⁵Do not trust in a neighbor; Do not have confidence in a close friend. Guard your lips From her who lies in your arms.

⁶For son disavows father, Daughter rises up against her mother, Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; A person’s enemies are the people of his own household.

⁷But as for me, I will be on the watch for the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me.

⁸Do not rejoice over me, enemy of mine. Though I fall I will rise; Though I live in darkness, the LORD is a light for me.

⁹I will endure the rage of the LORD Because I have sinned against Him, Until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me out to the light, And I will look at His righteousness.

¹⁰Then my enemy will see, And shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is the LORD your God?” My eyes will look at her; At that time she will be trampled down Like mud of the streets.

¹¹It will be a day for building your walls. On that day your boundary will be extended.

¹²It will be a day when they will come to you From Assyria and the cities of Egypt, From Egypt even to the Euphrates River, Even from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.

¹³And the earth will become a wasteland because of her inhabitants, On account of the fruit of their deeds.

¹⁴Shepherd Your people with Your scepter, The flock of Your possession Which lives by itself in the woodland, In the midst of a fruitful field. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead As in the days of old.

¹⁵“As in the days when you went out from the land of Egypt, I will show you miracles.”

¹⁶Nations will see and be ashamed Of all their might. They will put their hand on their mouth, Their ears will be deaf.

¹⁷They will lick up dust like a snake, Like reptiles of the earth. They will come trembling out of their fortresses; To the LORD our God they will come in trepidation, And they will be afraid of You.

¹⁸Who is a God like You, who pardons wrongdoing And passes over a rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy.

¹⁹He will again take pity on us; He will trample on our wrongdoings. Yes, You will cast all their sins Into the depths of the sea.

²⁰You will give truth to Jacob And favor to Abraham, Which You swore to our forefathers From the days of old.