The Siege of Jerusalem

29 Ah, Ariel, Ariel,
    the city (A)where David encamped!
Add year to year;
    let the feasts run their round.
Yet I will distress Ariel,
    and there shall be moaning and lamentation,
    and she shall be to me like an Ariel.[a]
(B)And I will encamp against you all around,
    and will besiege you (C)with towers
    and I will raise siegeworks against you.
(D)And you will be brought low; from the earth you shall speak,
    and from the dust your speech will be bowed down;
your voice shall come from the ground like (E)the voice of a ghost,
    and from the dust your speech shall whisper.

But the multitude of your foreign foes shall be like (F)small dust,
    and the multitude of the ruthless like passing chaff.
(G)And in an instant, suddenly,
    (H)you will be visited by the Lord of hosts
with thunder and with earthquake and great noise,
    with whirlwind and tempest, and the flame of a devouring fire.
And (I)the multitude of all the nations that fight against Ariel,
    all that fight against her and her stronghold and distress her,
    shall be (J)like a dream, a vision of the night.
(K)As when a hungry man dreams, and behold, he is eating,
    and awakes with his hunger not satisfied,
or as when a thirsty man dreams, and behold, he is drinking,
    and awakes faint, with his thirst not quenched,
so shall the multitude of all the nations be
    that fight against Mount Zion.

Astonish yourselves[b] and be astonished;
    blind yourselves and be blind!
Be drunk,[c] but not with wine;
    (L)stagger,[d] but not with strong drink!
10 (M)For the Lord has poured out upon you
    a spirit of deep sleep,
and has closed your eyes (the prophets),
    and covered your heads (the seers).

11 And the vision of all this has become to you like the words of a book that is (N)sealed. When men give it to one who can read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot, for it is sealed.” 12 And when they give the book to one who cannot read, saying, “Read this,” he says, “I cannot read.”

13 And the Lord said:
“Because (O)this people (P)draw near with their mouth
    and honor me with their lips,
    while their hearts are far from me,
and their fear of me is a commandment taught by men,
14 therefore, behold, (Q)I will again
    do wonderful things with this people,
    with wonder upon wonder;
and (R)the wisdom of their wise men shall perish,
    and the discernment of their discerning men shall be hidden.”

15 Ah, (S)you who hide deep from the Lord your counsel,
    whose deeds are (T)in the dark,
    and who say, “Who sees us? Who knows us?”
16 (U)You turn things upside down!
Shall the potter be regarded as the clay,
that the thing made should say of its maker,
    “He did not make me”;
or the thing formed say of him who formed it,
    “He has no understanding”?

17 Is it not yet a very little while
    (V)until Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field,
    and the fruitful field shall be regarded as a forest?
18 In that day (W)the deaf shall hear
    (X)the words of a book,
and out of their gloom and darkness
    (Y)the eyes of the blind shall see.
19 (Z)The meek shall obtain fresh joy in the Lord,
    and the poor among mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel.
20 For the ruthless shall come to nothing
    and (AA)the scoffer cease,
    and all who watch to do evil shall be cut off,
21 who by a word make a man out to be an offender,
    and (AB)lay a snare for him who reproves in the gate,
    and with an empty plea (AC)turn aside him who is in the right.

22 Therefore thus says the Lord, (AD)who redeemed Abraham, concerning the house of Jacob:

“Jacob shall no more be ashamed,
    no more shall his face grow pale.
23 For when he sees his children,
    (AE)the work of my hands, in his midst,
    they will sanctify my name;
(AF)they will sanctify the Holy One of Jacob
    and will stand in awe of the God of Israel.
24 And those (AG)who go astray in spirit will come to understanding,
    and those who murmur will accept instruction.”

Do Not Go Down to Egypt

30 “Ah, (AH)stubborn children,” declares the Lord,
(AI)“who carry out a plan, but not mine,
and who make (AJ)an alliance,[e] but not of my Spirit,
    that they may add sin to sin;
(AK)who set out to go down to Egypt,
    without asking for my direction,
to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh
    and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt!
(AL)Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame,
    and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation.
For though his officials are at (AM)Zoan
    and (AN)his envoys reach (AO)Hanes,
everyone comes to shame
    through (AP)a people that cannot profit them,
that brings neither help nor profit,
    but shame and disgrace.”

An (AQ)oracle on (AR)the beasts of (AS)the Negeb.

Through a land of trouble and anguish,
    from where come the lioness and the lion,
    the adder and the (AT)flying fiery serpent,
they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys,
    and their treasures on the humps of camels,
    to a people that cannot profit them.
Egypt's (AU)help is worthless and empty;
    therefore I have called her
    (AV)“Rahab who sits still.”

A Rebellious People

And now, go, (AW)write it before them on a tablet
    and inscribe it in a book,
that it may be for the time to come
    as a witness forever.[f]
(AX)For they are a rebellious people,
    lying children,
children unwilling to hear
    the instruction of the Lord;
10 (AY)who say to (AZ)the seers, “Do not see,”
    and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right;
speak to us (BA)smooth things,
    prophesy illusions,
11 leave the way, turn aside from the path,
    let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”
12 Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel,
“Because you despise this word
    and trust in (BB)oppression and perverseness
    and rely on them,
13 therefore this iniquity shall be to you
    (BC)like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse,
    whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;
14 and its breaking is (BD)like that of a potter's vessel
    that is smashed so ruthlessly
that among its fragments not a shard is found
    with which to take fire from the hearth,
    or to dip up water out of the cistern.”

15 For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel,
“In (BE)returning[g] and (BF)rest you shall be saved;
    in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.”
But you were unwilling, 16 and you said,
“No! We will flee upon (BG)horses”;
    therefore you shall flee away;
and, “We will ride upon swift steeds”;
    therefore your pursuers shall be swift.
17 (BH)A thousand shall flee at the threat of one;
    at the threat of five you shall flee,
till you are left
    like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain,
    like a signal on a hill.

The Lord Will Be Gracious

18 Therefore the Lord (BI)waits to be gracious to you,
    and therefore he (BJ)exalts himself to show mercy to you.
For the Lord is a God of justice;
    (BK)blessed are all those who wait for him.

19 For a people shall dwell (BL)in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry. As soon as he hears it, he answers you. 20 And though the Lord give you the (BM)bread of adversity and the (BN)water of affliction, (BO)yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. 21 (BP)And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is (BQ)the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left. 22 Then you will defile your carved idols overlaid with silver and your gold-plated metal images. (BR)You will scatter them as unclean things. You will say to them, “Be gone!”

23 (BS)And he will give (BT)rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and bread, the produce of the ground, which will be rich and plenteous. (BU)In that day your livestock will graze in large pastures, 24 and (BV)the oxen and the donkeys that work the ground will eat seasoned fodder, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. 25 And (BW)on every lofty mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day of the great slaughter, (BX)when the towers fall. 26 (BY)Moreover, the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day when (BZ)the Lord binds up (CA)the brokenness of his people, and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.

27 Behold, the name of the Lord comes from afar,
    burning with his anger, and in thick rising smoke;[h]
his lips are full of fury,
    and his tongue is like a devouring fire;
28 (CB)his breath is (CC)like an overflowing stream
    that reaches up to the neck;
to sift the nations with the sieve of destruction,
    and to place on the jaws of the peoples (CD)a bridle that leads astray.

29 You shall have a song as in the night when a holy feast is kept, and gladness of heart, (CE)as when one sets out to the sound of the flute to go to (CF)the mountain of the Lord, to (CG)the Rock of Israel. 30 And the Lord (CH)will cause his majestic voice to be heard and the descending blow of his arm to be seen, in furious anger (CI)and a flame of devouring fire, with a cloudburst (CJ)and storm and hailstones. 31 The Assyrians will be terror-stricken at the voice of the Lord, (CK)when he strikes with his rod. 32 And every stroke of the appointed staff that the Lord lays on them (CL)will be to the sound of tambourines and lyres. (CM)Battling with brandished arm, he will fight with them. 33 For (CN)a burning place[i] has long been prepared; indeed, for the king it is made ready, (CO)its pyre made deep and wide, with fire and wood in abundance; (CP)the breath of the Lord, like a stream of sulfur, kindles it.

Woe to Those Who Go Down to Egypt

31 Woe[j] to (CQ)those who go down to Egypt for help
    and rely on horses,
who (CR)trust in chariots because they are many
    and in horsemen because they are very strong,
but (CS)do not look to the Holy One of Israel
    or consult the Lord!
And (CT)yet he is wise and brings disaster;
    (CU)he does not call back his words,
but (CV)will arise against the house of the evildoers
    and against the helpers of (CW)those who work iniquity.
The Egyptians are man, and not God,
    and their horses (CX)are flesh, and not spirit.
When the Lord stretches out his hand,
    the helper will stumble, and he who is helped will fall,
    and they will all perish together.

For thus the Lord said to me,
(CY)“As a lion or a young lion growls over his prey,
    and when a band of shepherds is called out against him
he is not terrified by their shouting
    or daunted at their noise,
(CZ)so the Lord of hosts will come down
    to fight[k] on Mount Zion and on its hill.
(DA)Like birds hovering, so the Lord of hosts
    will protect Jerusalem;
he will protect and deliver it;
    he will spare and rescue it.”

(DB)Turn to him from whom people[l] have (DC)deeply revolted, O children of Israel. For in that day (DD)everyone shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which your hands have sinfully made for you.

(DE)“And the Assyrian shall fall by a sword, not of man;
    and a sword, not of man, shall devour him;
and he shall flee from the sword,
    and his young men shall be (DF)put to forced labor.
(DG)His rock shall pass away in terror,
    and his officers desert the standard in panic,”
declares the Lord, whose (DH)fire is in Zion,
    and whose (DI)furnace is in Jerusalem.

A King Will Reign in Righteousness

32 Behold, (DJ)a king will reign in righteousness,
    and princes will rule in justice.
(DK)Each will be like a hiding place from the wind,
    a shelter from the storm,
(DL)like streams of water in a dry place,
    like the shade of a great rock in a weary land.
(DM)Then the eyes of those who see will not be closed,
    and the ears of those who hear will give attention.
The heart of the hasty will understand and know,
    (DN)and the tongue of the stammerers will hasten to speak distinctly.
(DO)The fool will no more be called noble,
    nor the scoundrel said to be honorable.
For (DP)the fool speaks folly,
    and his heart is busy with iniquity,
to practice ungodliness,
    to utter error concerning the Lord,
(DQ)to leave the craving of the hungry unsatisfied,
    and to deprive the thirsty of drink.
As for the scoundrel—(DR)his devices are evil;
    he plans wicked schemes
to ruin the poor with lying words,
    even when the plea of the needy is right.
But he who is noble plans noble things,
    and on noble things he stands.

Complacent Women Warned of Disaster

(DS)Rise up, you women (DT)who are at ease, hear my voice;
    you complacent daughters, give ear to my speech.
10 In little more than a year
    you will shudder, you complacent women;
for the grape harvest fails,
    the fruit harvest will not come.
11 Tremble, you women (DU)who are at ease,
    shudder, you complacent ones;
(DV)strip, and make yourselves bare,
    (DW)and tie sackcloth around your waist.
12 (DX)Beat your breasts for the pleasant fields,
    for the fruitful vine,
13 (DY)for the soil of my people
    growing up in thorns and briers,
(DZ)yes, for all the joyous houses
    in the exultant city.
14 For the palace is forsaken,
    the populous city deserted;
the hill and the watchtower
    will become dens forever,
(EA)a joy of wild donkeys,
    a pasture of flocks;
15 until (EB)the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
    and (EC)the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
    and the fruitful field is deemed a forest.
16 Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
    and righteousness abide in the fruitful field.
17 (ED)And the effect of righteousness will be peace,
    and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust[m] forever.
18 My people will abide in a peaceful habitation,
    in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places.
19 (EE)And it will hail when the forest falls down,
    (EF)and the city will be utterly laid low.
20 (EG)Happy are you who sow beside all waters,
    who let the feet of the ox and the donkey range free.

O Lord, Be Gracious to Us

33 (EH)Ah, you destroyer,
    who yourself have not been destroyed,
you traitor,
    whom none has betrayed!
When you have ceased to destroy,
    you will be destroyed;
and when you have finished betraying,
    they will betray you.

O Lord, be gracious to us; (EI)we wait for you.
    Be our arm every morning,
    our salvation in the time of trouble.
(EJ)At the tumultuous noise peoples flee;
    when you lift yourself up, nations are scattered,
and your spoil is gathered as the caterpillar gathers;
    (EK)as locusts leap, it is leapt upon.

(EL)The Lord is exalted, for he dwells on high;
    he will fill Zion with justice and righteousness,
(EM)and he will be the stability of your times,
    abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge;
    the fear of the Lord is Zion's[n] treasure.

Behold, their heroes cry in the streets;
    (EN)the envoys of peace weep bitterly.
(EO)The highways lie waste;
    the traveler ceases.
(EP)Covenants are broken;
    cities[o] are despised;
    there is no regard for man.
(EQ)The land mourns and languishes;
    Lebanon is confounded and withers away;
Sharon is like a desert,
    and Bashan and Carmel shake off their leaves.

10 (ER)“Now I will arise,” says the Lord,
    “now I will lift myself up;
    now I will be exalted.
11 (ES)You conceive chaff; you give birth to stubble;
    your breath is (ET)a fire that will consume you.
12 And the peoples will be as if burned to lime,
    (EU)like thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire.”

13 Hear, you who are far off, what I have done;
    and you who are near, acknowledge my might.
14 The sinners in Zion are afraid;
    trembling has seized the godless:
(EV)“Who among us can dwell (EW)with the consuming fire?
    Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?”
15 (EX)He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly,
    who despises the gain of oppressions,
who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe,
    who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed
    (EY)and shuts his eyes from looking on evil,
16 he will dwell on the heights;
    his place of defense will be the fortresses of rocks;
    (EZ)his bread will be given him; his water will be sure.

17 (FA)Your eyes will behold the king in his beauty;
    (FB)they will see a land that stretches afar.
18 (FC)Your heart will muse on the terror:
    “Where is he who counted, where is (FD)he who weighed the tribute?
    Where is (FE)he who counted the towers?”
19 (FF)You will see no more the insolent people,
    the people (FG)of an obscure speech that you cannot comprehend,
    stammering in a tongue that you cannot understand.
20 Behold Zion, the city of our appointed feasts!
    (FH)Your eyes will see Jerusalem,
    an untroubled habitation, an (FI)immovable tent,
whose stakes will never be plucked up,
    nor will any of its cords be broken.
21 But there the Lord in majesty will be for us
    a place of (FJ)broad rivers and streams,
(FK)where no galley with oars can go,
    nor majestic ship can pass.
22 For the Lord is our (FL)judge; the Lord is our (FM)lawgiver;
    the Lord is our (FN)king; he will save us.

23 Your cords hang loose;
    they cannot hold the mast firm in its place
    or keep the sail spread out.
(FO)Then prey and spoil in abundance will be divided;
    even (FP)the lame will take the prey.
24 And no inhabitant will say, (FQ)“I am sick”;
    (FR)the people who dwell there will be forgiven their iniquity.

Judgment on the Nations

34 Draw near, (FS)O nations, to hear,
    and give attention, O peoples!
Let the earth hear, and all that fills it;
    the world, and all that comes from it.
For the Lord is enraged against all the nations,
    and furious against all their host;
    he has (FT)devoted them to destruction,[p] has given them over for slaughter.
Their slain shall be cast out,
    and (FU)the stench of their corpses shall rise;
    (FV)the mountains shall flow with their blood.
(FW)All the host of heaven shall rot away,
    and the skies roll up like a scroll.
All their host shall fall,
    as leaves fall from the vine,
    like leaves falling from the fig tree.

For my sword has drunk its fill in the heavens;
    behold, it descends for judgment upon (FX)Edom,
    upon the people (FY)I have devoted to destruction.
The Lord has a sword; it is sated with blood;
    it is gorged with fat,
    with the blood of lambs and goats,
    with the fat of the kidneys of rams.
(FZ)For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah,
    a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
(GA)Wild oxen shall (GB)fall with them,
    and (GC)young steers with (GD)the mighty bulls.
Their land shall drink its fill of blood,
    and their soil shall be gorged with fat.

(GE)For the Lord has a day of vengeance,
    a year of recompense for the cause of Zion.
(GF)And the streams of Edom[q] shall be turned into pitch,
    and her soil into sulfur;
    her land shall become burning pitch.
10 Night and day (GG)it shall not be quenched;
    (GH)its smoke shall go up forever.
(GI)From generation to generation it shall lie waste;
    none shall pass through it forever and ever.
11 (GJ)But the hawk and the porcupine[r] shall possess it,
    the owl and the raven shall dwell in it.
(GK)He shall stretch the line of (GL)confusion[s] over it,
    and the plumb line of emptiness.
12 Its nobles—there is no one there to call it a kingdom,
    and all its princes shall be nothing.

13 (GM)Thorns shall grow over its strongholds,
    nettles and thistles in its fortresses.
It shall be the haunt of (GN)jackals,
    an abode for ostriches.[t]
14 (GO)And wild animals shall meet with hyenas;
    the wild goat shall cry to his fellow;
indeed, there the night bird[u] settles
    and finds for herself a resting place.

15 There the owl nests and lays
    and hatches and gathers her young in her shadow;
indeed, there (GP)the hawks are gathered,
    each one with her mate.
16 Seek and read from the book of the Lord:
    Not one of these shall be missing;
    none shall be without her mate.
For the mouth of the Lord has commanded,
    and his Spirit has gathered them.
17 (GQ)He has cast the lot for them;
    his hand has portioned it out to them with the line;
they shall possess it forever;
    from generation to generation they shall dwell in it.

The Ransomed Shall Return

35 (GR)The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad;
    (GS)the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus;
it shall blossom abundantly
    and rejoice with joy and singing.
(GT)The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it,
    the majesty of (GU)Carmel and (GV)Sharon.
(GW)They shall see the glory of the Lord,
    the majesty of our God.

(GX)Strengthen the weak hands,
    and make firm the feeble knees.
Say to those who have an anxious heart,
    “Be strong; fear not!
(GY)Behold, your God
    will come with vengeance,
with the recompense of God.
    He will come and save you.”

(GZ)Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
    and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
(HA)then shall the lame man leap like a deer,
    and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.
(HB)For waters break forth in the wilderness,
    and streams in the desert;
(HC)the burning sand shall become a pool,
    and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunt of (HD)jackals, where they lie down,
    the grass shall become reeds and rushes.

(HE)And a highway shall be there,
    and it shall be called the Way of Holiness;
(HF)the unclean shall not pass over it.
    It shall belong to those who walk on the way;
    even if they are fools, they shall not go astray.[v]
No lion shall be there,
    nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
    but the redeemed shall walk there.
10 (HG)And the ransomed of the Lord shall return
    and come to Zion with singing;
(HH)everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
    they shall obtain gladness and joy,
    and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.

Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 29:2 Ariel could mean lion of God, or hero (2 Samuel 23:20), or altar hearth (Ezekiel 43:15–16)
  2. Isaiah 29:9 Or Linger awhile
  3. Isaiah 29:9 Or They are drunk
  4. Isaiah 29:9 Or they stagger
  5. Isaiah 30:1 Hebrew who weave a web
  6. Isaiah 30:8 Some Hebrew manuscripts, Syriac, Targum, Vulgate, and Greek versions; Masoretic Text forever and ever
  7. Isaiah 30:15 Or repentance
  8. Isaiah 30:27 Hebrew in weight of uplifted clouds
  9. Isaiah 30:33 Or For Topheth
  10. Isaiah 31:1 Or Ah,
  11. Isaiah 31:4 The Hebrew words for hosts and to fight sound alike
  12. Isaiah 31:6 Hebrew they
  13. Isaiah 32:17 Or security
  14. Isaiah 33:6 Hebrew his
  15. Isaiah 33:8 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scroll witnesses
  16. Isaiah 34:2 That is, set apart (devoted) as an offering to the Lord (for destruction); also verse 5
  17. Isaiah 34:9 Hebrew her streams
  18. Isaiah 34:11 The identity of the animals rendered hawk and porcupine is uncertain
  19. Isaiah 34:11 Hebrew formlessness
  20. Isaiah 34:13 Or owls
  21. Isaiah 34:14 Identity uncertain
  22. Isaiah 35:8 Or if they are fools, they shall not wander in it

The word of the Lord that came to Micah (A)of Moresheth (B)in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw (C)concerning (D)Samaria and Jerusalem.

The Coming Destruction

(E)Hear, you peoples, all of you;[a]
    (F)pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,
and (G)let the Lord God be a witness against you,
    (H)the Lord from his holy temple.
For behold, (I)the Lord is coming out of (J)his place,
    and will come down and (K)tread upon the high places of the earth.
And (L)the mountains will melt under him,
    and the valleys will split open,
like wax before the fire,
    like waters poured down a steep place.
All this is for (M)the transgression of Jacob
    and for the sins of the house of Israel.
(N)What is the transgression of Jacob?
    Is it not (O)Samaria?
And what is (P)the high place of Judah?
    Is it not Jerusalem?
Therefore I will make (Q)Samaria (R)a heap in the open country,
    a place for planting vineyards,
and I will pour down her stones (S)into the valley
    and (T)uncover her foundations.
All (U)her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,
    (V)all her wages shall be burned with fire,
    and all her idols I will lay waste,
for from (W)the fee of a prostitute she gathered them,
    and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

(X)For this I will lament and wail;
    I will go (Y)stripped and naked;
I will make lamentation (Z)like the jackals,
    and mourning (AA)like the ostriches.
(AB)For her wound is incurable,
    and it has come to Judah;
it has reached to the gate of my people,
    to Jerusalem.

10 (AC)Tell it not in (AD)Gath;
    weep not at all;
in Beth-le-aphrah
    (AE)roll yourselves in the dust.
11 Pass on your way,
    inhabitants of Shaphir,
    (AF)in nakedness and shame;
the inhabitants of Zaanan
    do not come out;
the lamentation of Beth-ezel
    shall take away from you its standing place.
12 For the inhabitants of Maroth
    wait anxiously for good,
because disaster has come down (AG)from the Lord
    to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the steeds to the chariots,
    inhabitants of (AH)Lachish;
it was the beginning of sin
    to the daughter of Zion,
for in you were found
    (AI)the transgressions of Israel.
14 Therefore you shall give parting gifts[b]
    to (AJ)Moresheth-gath;
the houses of (AK)Achzib shall be a deceitful thing
    to the kings of Israel.
15 I will again bring (AL)a conqueror to you,
    inhabitants of (AM)Mareshah;
the glory of Israel
    shall come to (AN)Adullam.
16 (AO)Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair,
    for the children of your delight;
(AP)make yourselves as bald as the eagle,
    for they shall go from you into exile.

Woe to the Oppressors

(AQ)Woe to those who devise wickedness
    and work evil (AR)on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
    because it is in the power of their hand.
They covet fields and (AS)seize them,
    and houses, and take them away;
they oppress a man and his house,
    a man and his inheritance.
Therefore thus says the Lord:
behold, against (AT)this family I am devising disaster,[c]
    from which you cannot remove your necks,
and you (AU)shall not walk haughtily,
    (AV)for it will be a time of disaster.
In that day (AW)they shall take up a taunt song against you
    and moan bitterly,
and say, “We are utterly ruined;
    (AX)he changes the portion of my people;
(AY)how he removes it from me!
    (AZ)To an apostate he allots our fields.”
Therefore you will have none (BA)to cast the line by lot
    in the assembly of the Lord.

(BB)“Do not preach”—thus they preach—
    (BC)“one should not preach of such things;
    (BD)disgrace will not overtake us.”
Should this be said, O house of Jacob?
    (BE)Has the Lord grown impatient?[d]
    Are these his deeds?
Do not my words do good
    to him who walks uprightly?
But lately (BF)my people have risen up as an enemy;
you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly
    with no thought of war.[e]
The women of my people you drive out
    from their delightful houses;
from their young children you take away
    my splendor forever.
10 (BG)Arise and go,
    for this is no (BH)place to rest,
because of (BI)uncleanness that destroys
    with a grievous destruction.
11 If a man should go about and (BJ)utter wind and lies,
    saying, “I will preach to you (BK)of wine and strong drink,”
    he would be the preacher for this people!
12 I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob;
    (BL)I will gather (BM)the remnant of Israel;
I will set them together
    like sheep in a fold,
(BN)like a flock in its pasture,
    a noisy multitude of men.
13 (BO)He who opens the breach goes up before them;
    they break through and pass the gate,
    (BP)going out by it.
Their king passes on before them,
    (BQ)the Lord at their head.

Footnotes

  1. Micah 1:2 Hebrew all of them
  2. Micah 1:14 Or give dowry
  3. Micah 2:3 The same Hebrew word can mean evil or disaster, depending on the context
  4. Micah 2:7 Hebrew Has the spirit of the Lord grown short?
  5. Micah 2:8 Or returning from war

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