Micah 3-5

New American Standard Bible

“^(A)Hear now, you ^[a]leaders of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel:
Is it not for you to ^(B)know justice?
² You who hate good and love evil,
Who ^(C)tear off their skin from them
And their flesh from their bones,
³ Who ^(D)eat the flesh of my people,
Strip off their skin from them,
Smash their bones,
And ^(E)chop them up as for the pot,
And as meat in a cauldron!”
⁴ Then they will ^(F)cry out to the Lord,
But He will not answer them.
Instead, He will ^(G)hide His face from them at that time
Because they have ^(H)practiced evil deeds.

When they have something to bite with their teeth,
They ^(J)cry out, “Peace!”
But against him who puts nothing in their mouths
They declare holy war.
⁶ Therefore it will be ^(K)night for you—without vision,
And darkness for you—without divination.
The ^(L)sun will go down on the prophets,
And the day will become dark over them.
⁷ The seers will be ^(M)put to shame,
And the ^(N)diviners will be ashamed.
Indeed, they will all ^(O)cover their ^[b]lips
Because there is ^(P)no answer from God.
⁸ On the other hand, ^(Q)I am filled with power—
With the Spirit of the Lord—
And with justice and courage
To ^(R)make known to Jacob his rebellious act,
And to Israel his sin.
⁹ Now hear this, you ^(S)heads of the house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who ^(T)despise justice
And twist everything that is straight,
¹⁰ Who ^(U)build Zion with bloodshed,
And Jerusalem with malice.
¹¹ Her leaders pronounce ^(V)judgment for a bribe,
Her ^(W)priests teach for pay,
And her prophets divine for money.
Yet they lean on the Lord, saying,
“^(X)Is the Lord not in our midst?
Catastrophe will not come upon us.”
¹² Therefore on account of you,
^(Y)Zion will be plowed like a field,
^(Z)Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
And the ^(AA)mountain of the ^[c]temple will become high places of a forest.

4 And it will come about in the ^(AB)last days
That the ^(AC)mountain of the house of the Lord
Will be established ^[d]as the chief of the mountains.
It will be raised above the hills,
And the ^(AD)peoples will stream to it.
^2 (AE)Many nations will come and say,
“^(AF)Come and let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord
And to the house of the God of Jacob,
So that ^(AG)He may teach us about His ways,
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For ^(AH)from Zion will go forth the law,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
³ And He will ^(AI)judge between many peoples
And render decisions for mighty, ^[e]distant nations.
Then they will beat their swords ^(AJ)into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation will not lift a sword against nation,
And never again will they ^[f]train for war.
⁴ Instead, each of them will ^(AK)sit under his vine
And under his fig tree,
With ^(AL)no one to make them afraid,
Because the ^(AM)mouth of the Lord of armies has spoken.
⁵ Though all the peoples walk,
Each in the ^(AN)name of his god,
As for us, ^(AO)we will walk
In the name of the ^(AP)Lord our God forever and ever.

5 “^[k]Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops;
^[l]They have laid siege against us;
With a rod they will ^(BH)strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.
^2 [m]But as for ^(BI)you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From ^(BJ)you One will come forth for Me to be ^(BK)ruler in Israel.
His times of coming forth are ^(BL)from long ago,
From the days of eternity.”
³ Therefore He will ^(BM)give them up until the time
When she ^(BN)who is in labor has given birth.
Then the ^(BO)remainder of His kinsmen
Will return to the sons of Israel.
⁴ And He will arise and ^(BP)shepherd His flock
In the strength of the Lord,
In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.
And they will ^[n]remain,
Because ^[o]at that time He will be great
To the ^(BQ)ends of the earth.
⁵ This One ^(BR)will be our peace.
When the ^(BS)Assyrian invades our land,
When he tramples on our ^[p]citadels,
Then we will raise against him
Seven shepherds and eight leaders of people.
⁶ They will ^(BT)shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
The land of ^(BU)Nimrod at its entrances;
And He will ^(BV)rescue us from the Assyrian
When he invades our land,
And when he tramples our territory.