Micah 2-5

New American Standard Bible

2 Woe to those who ^(A)devise wrongdoing,
Who practice evil on their beds!
^[a](B)When morning comes, they do it,
Because it is in the ^(C)power of their hands.
² They ^(D)covet fields, so they ^(E)seize them;
And houses, so they take them.
They ^[b](F)exploit a man and his house,
A person and his inheritance.

“Behold, I am ^(G)planning against this ^(H)family a catastrophe
From which you ^(I)cannot remove your necks;
And you will not walk ^(J)haughtily,
For it will be an ^(K)evil time.
⁴ On that day they will ^(L)take up against you a ^[c]song of mocking
And ^[d](M)utter a song of mourning and say,
‘We are completely ^(N)destroyed!
He exchanges the share of my people;
How He removes it from me!
To the apostate He ^(O)apportions our fields.’
⁵ Therefore you will have no one ^[e](P)applying a measuring line
For you by lot in the assembly of the Lord.

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

When they have something to bite with their teeth,
They ^(AR)cry out, “Peace!”
But against him who puts nothing in their mouths
They declare holy war.
⁶ Therefore it will be ^(AS)night for you—without vision,
And darkness for you—without divination.
The ^(AT)sun will go down on the prophets,
And the day will become dark over them.
⁷ The seers will be ^(AU)put to shame,
And the ^(AV)diviners will be ashamed.
Indeed, they will all ^(AW)cover their ^[i]lips
Because there is ^(AX)no answer from God.
⁸ On the other hand, ^(AY)I am filled with power—
With the Spirit of the Lord—
And with justice and courage
To ^(AZ)make known to Jacob his rebellious act,
And to Israel his sin.
⁹ Now hear this, you ^(BA)heads of the house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who ^(BB)despise justice
And twist everything that is straight,
¹⁰ Who ^(BC)build Zion with bloodshed,
And Jerusalem with malice.
¹¹ Her leaders pronounce ^(BD)judgment for a bribe,
Her ^(BE)priests teach for pay,
And her prophets divine for money.
Yet they lean on the Lord, saying,
“^(BF)Is the Lord not in our midst?
Catastrophe will not come upon us.”
¹² Therefore on account of you,
^(BG)Zion will be plowed like a field,
^(BH)Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
And the ^(BI)mountain of the ^[j]temple will become high places of a forest.

4 And it will come about in the ^(BJ)last days
That the ^(BK)mountain of the house of the Lord
Will be established ^[k]as the chief of the mountains.
It will be raised above the hills,
And the ^(BL)peoples will stream to it.
^2 (BM)Many nations will come and say,
“^(BN)Come and let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord
And to the house of the God of Jacob,
So that ^(BO)He may teach us about His ways,
And that we may walk in His paths.”
For ^(BP)from Zion will go forth the law,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
³ And He will ^(BQ)judge between many peoples
And render decisions for mighty, ^[l]distant nations.
Then they will beat their swords ^(BR)into plowshares,
And their spears into pruning hooks;
Nation will not lift a sword against nation,
And never again will they ^[m]train for war.
⁴ Instead, each of them will ^(BS)sit under his vine
And under his fig tree,
With ^(BT)no one to make them afraid,
Because the ^(BU)mouth of the Lord of armies has spoken.
⁵ Though all the peoples walk,
Each in the ^(BV)name of his god,
As for us, ^(BW)we will walk
In the name of the ^(BX)Lord our God forever and ever.

5 “^[r]Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops;
^[s]They have laid siege against us;
With a rod they will ^(CP)strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.
^2 [t]But as for ^(CQ)you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From ^(CR)you One will come forth for Me to be ^(CS)ruler in Israel.
His times of coming forth are ^(CT)from long ago,
From the days of eternity.”
³ Therefore He will ^(CU)give them up until the time
When she ^(CV)who is in labor has given birth.
Then the ^(CW)remainder of His kinsmen
Will return to the sons of Israel.
⁴ And He will arise and ^(CX)shepherd His flock
In the strength of the Lord,
In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.
And they will ^[u]remain,
Because ^[v]at that time He will be great
To the ^(CY)ends of the earth.
⁵ This One ^(CZ)will be our peace.
When the ^(DA)Assyrian invades our land,
When he tramples on our ^[w]citadels,
Then we will raise against him
Seven shepherds and eight leaders of people.
⁶ They will ^(DB)shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
The land of ^(DC)Nimrod at its entrances;
And He will ^(DD)rescue us from the Assyrian
When he invades our land,
And when he tramples our territory.