Micah 1-5

Christian Standard Bible

² Listen, all you peoples;^(G)
pay attention, earth^[a] and everyone in it!^(H)
The Lord God will be a witness against you,^(I)
the Lord, from his holy temple.^(J)
3 Look, the Lord is leaving his place^(K)
and coming down to trample
the heights^[b] of the earth.^(L)
4 The mountains will melt beneath him,
and the valleys will split apart,
like wax near a fire,^(M)
like water cascading down a mountainside.
⁵ All this will happen because of Jacob’s rebellion
and the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the rebellion of Jacob?
Isn’t it Samaria?^(N)
And what is the high place of Judah?^(O)
Isn’t it Jerusalem?
⁶ Therefore, I will make Samaria
a heap of ruins^(P) in the countryside,
a planting area^(Q) for a vineyard.
I will roll her stones^(R) into the valley
and expose her foundations.^(S)
7 All her carved images will be smashed^(T) to pieces;
all her wages^(U) will be burned in the fire,
and I will destroy all her idols.
Since she collected the wages of a prostitute,^(V)
they will be used again for a prostitute.

⁸ Because of this I will lament and wail;
I will walk barefoot and naked.^(W)
I will howl like the jackals^(X)
and mourn like ostriches.^[c]
9 For her wound is incurable^(Y)
and has reached even Judah;^(Z)
it has approached my people’s city gate,^(AA)
as far as Jerusalem.

2 Woe to those who dream up wickedness
and prepare evil plans^(AP) on their beds!
At morning light^(AQ) they accomplish it
because the power is in their hands.^(AR)
2 They covet fields^(AS) and seize them;^(AT)
they also take houses.
They deprive a man of his home,^(AU)
a person of his inheritance.^(AV)

I am now planning^(AW) a disaster
against this nation;^(AX)
you cannot free your necks from it.^(AY)
Then you will not walk so proudly^(AZ)
because it will be an evil time.^(BA)
4 In that day one will take up^(BB) a taunt against you
and lament mournfully,^(BC) saying,
“We are totally ruined!^(BD)
He measures out the allotted land of my people.
How he removes it from me!
He allots our fields^(BE) to traitors.”
⁵ Therefore, there will be no one
in the assembly of the Lord
to divide the land by casting lots.^[f](BF)

⁶ “Quit your preaching,”^(BG) they^[g] preach.
“They should not preach these things;^(BH)
shame will not overtake us.”^[h](BI)
7 House of Jacob, should it be asked,
“Is the Spirit of the Lord impatient?^(BJ)
Are these the things he does?”
Don’t my words bring good^(BK)
to the one who walks uprightly?^(BL)
8 But recently my people have risen up
like an enemy:^(BM)
You strip off the splendid robe^(BN)
from those who are passing through confidently,^(BO)
like those returning from war.
⁹ You force^(BP) the women of my people
out of their comfortable homes,
and you take my blessing^[i](BQ)
from their children forever.
¹⁰ Get up and leave,
for this is not your place of rest^(BR)
because defilement^(BS) brings destruction—
a grievous destruction!^(BT)
11 If a man comes
and utters empty lies^(BU)—
“I will preach to you about wine and beer”^(BV)—
he would be just the preacher for this people!^(BW)

¹² I will indeed gather^(BX) all of you, Jacob;
I will collect the remnant of Israel.^(BY)
I will bring them together like sheep in a pen,
like a flock in the middle of its pasture.
It will be noisy with people.^(BZ)
13 One who breaks open the way
will advance before them;
they will break out, pass through the city gate,
and leave by it.
Their King will pass through before them,
the Lord as their leader.

3 Then I said, “Now listen,^(CA) leaders of Jacob,
you rulers of the house of Israel.
Aren’t you supposed to know what is just?^(CB)
2 You hate good and love evil.
You tear off people’s skin^(CC)
and strip their flesh from their bones.
³ You eat the flesh^(CD) of my people
after you strip their skin from them
and break their bones.
You chop them up^(CE)
like flesh for the cooking pot,
like meat in a cauldron.”
⁴ Then they will cry out^(CF) to the Lord,
but he will not answer them.
He will hide his face from them at that time^(CG)
because of the crimes they have committed.

⁵ This is what the Lord says
concerning the prophets
who lead my people astray,^(CH)
who proclaim^(CI) peace
when they have food to sink their teeth into
but declare war against the one
who puts nothing in their mouths.
⁶ Therefore, it will be night^(CJ) for you—
without visions;
it will grow dark for you—
without divination.^(CK)
The sun will set^(CL) on these prophets,
and the daylight will turn black over them.
⁷ Then the seers will be ashamed^(CM)
and the diviners disappointed.^(CN)
They will all cover their mouths^[j](CO)
because there will be no answer from God.^(CP)

⁹ Listen to this, leaders of the house of Jacob,^(CS)
you rulers of the house of Israel,
who abhor justice^(CT)
and pervert everything that is right,
¹⁰ who build Zion with bloodshed^(CU)
and Jerusalem with injustice.
¹¹ Her leaders issue rulings for a bribe,^(CV)
her priests teach for payment,^(CW)
and her prophets practice divination for silver.
Yet they lean on the Lord, saying,
“Isn’t the Lord^(CX) among us?
No disaster will overtake us.”
¹² Therefore, because of you,
Zion will be plowed like a field,
Jerusalem will become ruins,^(CY)
and the temple’s mountain^(CZ)
will be a high thicket.^(DA)

4 In the last days^(DB)
the mountain of the Lord’s house^(DC)
will be established
at the top of the mountains
and will be raised above the hills.
Peoples will stream to it,^(DD)
2 and many nations will come and say,^(DE)
“Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord,^(DF)
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us about his ways^(DG)
so we may walk in his paths.”
For instruction will go out of Zion^(DH)
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
³ He will settle disputes among many peoples^(DI)
and provide arbitration for strong nations
that are far away.
They will beat their swords into plows
and their spears into pruning knives.
Nation will not take up the sword against nation,
and they will never again train for war.
⁴ But each person will sit under his grapevine^(DJ)
and under his fig tree
with no one to frighten him.^(DK)
For the mouth of the Lord^(DL) of Armies
has spoken.
⁵ Though all the peoples walk
in the name of their own gods,^(DM)
we will walk^(DN) in the name of the Lord our God
forever and ever.^(DO)

⁹ Now, why are you shouting loudly?^(DU)
Is there no king with you?
Has your counselor perished^(DV)
so that anguish grips you like a woman in labor?
¹⁰ Writhe and cry out,^[l](DW) Daughter Zion,
like a woman in labor,
for now you will leave the city^(DX)
and camp in the open fields.
You will go to Babylon;
there you will be rescued;^(DY)
there the Lord will redeem you^(DZ)
from the grasp of your enemies!
¹¹ Many nations have now assembled against you;^(EA)
they say, “Let her be defiled,
and let us feast our eyes on Zion.”
¹² But they do not know the Lord’s intentions^(EB)
or understand his plan,
that he has gathered them
like sheaves to the threshing floor.
¹³ Rise and thresh,^(EC) Daughter Zion,
for I will make your horns iron
and your hooves bronze
so you can crush many peoples.^(ED)
Then you^[m] will set apart their plunder^(EE)
for the Lord,
their wealth for the Lord of the whole earth.

5 Now, daughter who is under attack,
you slash yourself in grief;
a siege is set against us!
They are striking the judge^(EF) of Israel
on the cheek with a rod.
² Bethlehem Ephrathah,^(EG)
you are small among the clans of Judah;
one will come from you^(EH)
to be ruler over Israel for me.^(EI)
His origin^[n] is from antiquity,^(EJ)
from ancient times.
³ Therefore, Israel will be abandoned^(EK) until the time
when she who is in labor^(EL) has given birth;
then the rest of the ruler’s brothers^(EM) will return
to the people of Israel.^(EN)
4 He will stand and shepherd them^(EO)
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majestic name of the Lord his God.
They will live securely,
for then his greatness will extend
to the ends of the earth.^(EP)
5 He will be their peace.^(EQ)
When Assyria invades our land,^(ER)
when it marches against our fortresses,
we will raise against it seven shepherds,
even eight leaders of men.
⁶ They will shepherd^(ES) the land of Assyria with the sword,
the land of Nimrod^(ET) with a drawn blade.^[o]
So he will rescue us^(EU) from Assyria
when it invades our land,
when it marches against our territory.

⁷ Then the remnant of Jacob^(EV)
will be among many peoples
like dew from the Lord,^(EW)
like showers on the grass,^(EX)
which do not wait for anyone
or linger for mankind.
⁸ Then the remnant of Jacob
will be among the nations, among many peoples,
like a lion among animals of the forest,^(EY)
like a young lion among flocks of sheep,
which tramples^(EZ) and tears^(FA) as it passes through,
and there is no one to rescue them.^(FB)
9 Your hand will be lifted up against your adversaries,^(FC)
and all your enemies will be destroyed.