Micah 2-5
New King James Version
Woe to Evildoers
2 Woe to those who devise iniquity,
And [a]work out evil on their beds!
At (A)morning light they practice it,
Because it is in the power of their hand.
2 They (B)covet fields and take them by violence,
Also houses, and seize them.
So they oppress a man and his house,
A man and his inheritance.
3 Therefore thus says the Lord:
“Behold, against this (C)family I am devising (D)disaster,
From which you cannot remove your necks;
Nor shall you walk haughtily,
For this is an evil time.
4 In that day one shall take up a proverb against you,
And (E)lament with a bitter lamentation, saying:
‘We are utterly destroyed!
He has changed the [b]heritage of my people;
How He has removed it from me!
To [c]a turncoat He has divided our fields.’ ”
5 Therefore you will have no [d]one to determine boundaries by lot
In the assembly of the Lord.
Lying Prophets
6 “Do not prattle,” you say to those who [e]prophesy.
So they shall not prophesy [f]to you;
[g]They shall not return insult for insult.
7 You who are named the house of Jacob:
“Is the Spirit of the Lord restricted?
Are these His doings?
Do not My words do good
To him who walks uprightly?
8 “Lately My people have risen up as an enemy—
You pull off the robe with the garment
From those who trust you, as they pass by,
Like men returned from war.
9 The women of My people you cast out
From their pleasant houses;
From their children
You have taken away My glory forever.
10 “Arise and depart,
For this is not your (F)rest;
Because it is (G)defiled, it shall destroy,
Yes, with utter destruction.
11 If a man should walk in a false spirit
And speak a lie, saying,
‘I will [h]prophesy to you [i]of wine and drink,’
Even he would be the (H)prattler of this people.
Israel Restored
12 “I(I) will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob,
I will surely gather the remnant of Israel;
I will put them together (J)like sheep of [j]the fold,
Like a flock in the midst of their pasture;
(K)They shall make a loud noise because of so many people.
13 The one who breaks open will come up before them;
They will break out,
Pass through the gate,
And go out by it;
(L)Their king will pass before them,
(M)With the Lord at their head.”
Wicked Rulers and Prophets
3 And I said:
“Hear now, O heads of Jacob,
And you (N)rulers of the house of Israel:
(O)Is it not for you to know justice?
2 You who hate good and love evil;
Who strip the skin from [k]My people,
And the flesh from their bones;
3 Who also (P)eat the flesh of My people,
Flay their skin from them,
Break their bones,
And chop them in pieces
Like meat for the pot,
(Q)Like flesh in the caldron.”
4 Then (R)they will cry to the Lord,
But He will not hear them;
He will even hide His face from them at that time,
Because they have been evil in their deeds.
5 Thus says the Lord (S)concerning the prophets
Who make my people stray;
Who chant [l]“Peace”
[m]While they (T)chew with their teeth,
But who prepare war against him
(U)Who puts nothing into their mouths:
6 “Therefore(V) you shall have night without [n]vision,
And you shall have darkness without divination;
The sun shall go down on the prophets,
And the day shall be dark for (W)them.
7 So the seers shall be ashamed,
And the diviners abashed;
Indeed they shall all cover their lips;
(X)For there is no answer from God.”
8 But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord,
And of justice and might,
(Y)To declare to Jacob his transgression
And to Israel his sin.
9 Now hear this,
You heads of the house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who abhor justice
And [o]pervert all equity,
10 (Z)Who build up Zion with (AA)bloodshed
And Jerusalem with iniquity:
11 (AB)Her heads judge for a bribe,
(AC)Her priests teach for pay,
And her prophets divine for [p]money.
(AD)Yet they lean on the Lord, and say,
“Is not the Lord among us?
No harm can come upon us.”
12 Therefore because of you
Zion shall be (AE)plowed like a field,
(AF)Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins,
And (AG)the mountain of the [q]temple
Like the bare hills of the forest.
The Lord’s Reign in Zion(AH)
4 Now (AI)it shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the Lord’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And peoples shall flow to it.
2 Many nations shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion the law shall go forth,
And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 He shall judge between many peoples,
And rebuke strong nations afar off;
They shall beat their swords into (AJ)plowshares,
And their spears into [r]pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
(AK)Neither shall they learn war anymore.
4 (AL)But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree,
And no one shall make them afraid;
For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.
5 For all people walk each in the name of his god,
But (AM)we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
Forever and ever.
Zion’s Future Triumph
6 “In that day,” says the Lord,
(AN)“I will assemble the lame,
(AO)I will gather the outcast
And those whom I have afflicted;
7 I will make the lame (AP)a remnant,
And the outcast a strong nation;
So the Lord (AQ)will reign over them in Mount Zion
From now on, even forever.
8 And you, O tower of the flock,
The stronghold of the daughter of Zion,
To you shall it come,
Even the former dominion shall come,
The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.”
9 Now why do you cry aloud?
(AR)Is there no king in your midst?
Has your counselor perished?
For (AS)pangs have seized you like a woman in [s]labor.
10 Be in pain, and labor to bring forth,
O daughter of Zion,
Like a woman in birth pangs.
For now you shall go forth from the city,
You shall dwell in the field,
And to (AT)Babylon you shall go.
There you shall be delivered;
There the (AU)Lord will (AV)redeem you
From the hand of your enemies.
11 (AW)Now also many nations have gathered against you,
Who say, “Let her be defiled,
And let our eye (AX)look upon Zion.”
12 But they do not know (AY)the thoughts of the Lord,
Nor do they understand His counsel;
For He will gather them (AZ)like sheaves to the threshing floor.
13 “Arise(BA) and (BB)thresh, O daughter of Zion;
For I will make your horn iron,
And I will make your hooves bronze;
You shall (BC)beat in pieces many peoples;
(BD)I will consecrate their gain to the Lord,
And their substance to (BE)the Lord of the whole earth.”
The Messiah Will Be Born at Bethlehem
5 Now gather yourself in troops,
O daughter of troops;
He has laid siege against us;
They will (BF)strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.
The Coming Messiah
2 “But you, (BG)Bethlehem (BH)Ephrathah,
Though you are little (BI)among the (BJ)thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be (BK)Ruler in Israel,
(BL)Whose goings forth are from of old,
From [t]everlasting.”
3 Therefore He shall give them up,
Until the time that (BM)she who is in labor has given birth;
Then (BN)the remnant of His brethren
Shall return to the children of Israel.
4 And He shall stand and (BO)feed[u] His flock
In the strength of the Lord,
In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God;
And they shall abide,
For now He (BP)shall be great
To the ends of the earth;
5 And this One (BQ)shall be peace.
Judgment on Israel’s Enemies
When the Assyrian comes into our land,
And when he treads in our palaces,
Then we will raise against him
Seven shepherds and eight princely men.
6 They shall [v]waste with the sword the land of Assyria,
And the land of (BR)Nimrod at its entrances;
Thus He shall (BS)deliver us from the Assyrian,
When he comes into our land
And when he treads within our borders.
7 Then (BT)the remnant of Jacob
Shall be in the midst of many peoples,
(BU)Like dew from the Lord,
Like showers on the grass,
That [w]tarry for no man
Nor [x]wait for the sons of men.
8 And the remnant of Jacob
Shall be among the Gentiles,
In the midst of many peoples,
Like a (BV)lion among the beasts of the forest,
Like a young lion among flocks of sheep,
Who, if he passes through,
Both treads down and tears in pieces,
And none can deliver.
9 Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries,
And all your enemies shall be [y]cut off.
10 “And it shall be in that day,” says the Lord,
“That I will (BW)cut[z] off your (BX)horses from your midst
And destroy your (BY)chariots.
11 I will cut off the cities of your land
And throw down all your strongholds.
12 I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
And you shall have no (BZ)soothsayers.
13 (CA)Your carved images I will also cut off,
And your sacred pillars from your midst;
You shall (CB)no more worship the work of your hands;
14 I will pluck your [aa]wooden images from your midst;
Thus I will destroy your cities.
15 And I will (CC)execute vengeance in anger and fury
On the nations that have not [ab]heard.”
Footnotes
- Micah 2:1 Plan
- Micah 2:4 Lit. portion
- Micah 2:4 Lit. one turning back, an apostate
- Micah 2:5 Lit. one casting a surveyor’s line
- Micah 2:6 Or preach, lit. drip words
- Micah 2:6 Lit. to these
- Micah 2:6 Vg. He shall not take shame
- Micah 2:11 Or preach, lit. drip
- Micah 2:11 concerning
- Micah 2:12 Heb. Bozrah
- Micah 3:2 Lit. them
- Micah 3:5 All is well
- Micah 3:5 For those who feed them
- Micah 3:6 Prophetic revelation
- Micah 3:9 Lit. twist
- Micah 3:11 Lit. silver
- Micah 3:12 Lit. house
- Micah 4:3 pruning knives
- Micah 4:9 childbirth
- Micah 5:2 Lit. the days of eternity
- Micah 5:4 shepherd
- Micah 5:6 devastate
- Micah 5:7 wait
- Micah 5:7 delay
- Micah 5:9 destroyed
- Micah 5:10 destroy
- Micah 5:14 Heb. Asherim, Canaanite deities
- Micah 5:15 obeyed
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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