RISC DISC 2/RISC_DISC_2.iso/resources/etexts/bible/micah

Text File | 1995-04-10 | 17KB | 377 lines

 1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the
days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw
concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

1:2 Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is:
and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the LORD from his holy
temple.

1:3 For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come
down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.

1:4 And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall
be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured
down a steep place.

1:5 For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of
the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not
Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not
Jerusalem?  1:6 Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field,
and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones
thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.

1:7 And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and
all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols
thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an
harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.

1:8 Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I
will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.

1:9 For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come
unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

1:10 Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all: in the house of
Aphrah roll thyself in the dust.

1:11 Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked:
the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Bethezel;
he shall receive of you his standing.

1:12 For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil
came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem.

1:13 O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift
beast: she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion: for
the transgressions of Israel were found in thee.

1:14 Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moreshethgath: the houses
of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel.

1:15 Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he
shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel.

1:16 Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge
thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.

2:1 Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their beds!
when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the
power of their hand.

2:2 And they covet fields, and take them by violence; and houses, and
take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even a man and
his heritage.

2:3 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, against this family do I
devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks; neither
shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil.

2:4 In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament
with a doleful lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled: he hath
changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me!
turning away he hath divided our fields.

2:5 Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in
the congregation of the LORD.

2:6 Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy: they shall not
prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame.

2:7 O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of the
LORD straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do good to him
that walketh uprightly?  2:8 Even of late my people is risen up as an
enemy: ye pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by
securely as men averse from war.

2:9 The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant
houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever.

2:10 Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is
polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.

2:11 If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do lie, saying, I
will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be
the prophet of this people.

2:12 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely
gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the sheep of
Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make great
noise by reason of the multitude of men.

2:13 The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up, and have
passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their king shall
pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them.

3:1 And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye princes of
the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?  3:2 Who hate
the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their skin from off them,
and their flesh from off their bones; 3:3 Who also eat the flesh of my
people, and flay their skin from off them; and they break their bones,
and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the
caldron.

3:4 Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not hear them: he
will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved
themselves ill in their doings.

3:5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my people
err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he that putteth
not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.

3:6 Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall not have a
vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine; and
the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark
over them.

3:7 Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea,
they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer of God.

3:8 But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of
judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and
to Israel his sin.

3:9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and princes
of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all equity.

3:10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.

3:11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach
for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they
lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil can
come upon us.

3:12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and
Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house as the
high places of the forest.

4:1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of
the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the
mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall
flow unto it.

4:2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to
the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he
will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law
shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

4:3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations
afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their
spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against
nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

4:4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig
tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of
hosts hath spoken it.

4:5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we
will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.

4:6 In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and
I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted;
4:7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was cast
far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mount
Zion from henceforth, even for ever.

4:8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of
Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom
shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.

4:9 Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy
counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.

4:10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a
woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and
thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon;
there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from
the hand of thine enemies.

4:11 Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let
her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.

4:12 But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand
they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the
floor.

4:13 Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn
iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces
many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their
substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.

5:1 Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid
siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon
the cheek.

5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that
is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old,
from everlasting.

5:3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which
travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall
return unto the children of Israel.

5:4 And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the
majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now
shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.

5:5 And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into
our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise
against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.

5:6 And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the
land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from
the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth
within our borders.

5:7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a
dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not
for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.

5:8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst
of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young
lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth
down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.

5:9 Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all
thine enemies shall be cut off.

5:10 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that I
will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy
thy chariots: 5:11 And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and
throw down all thy strong holds: 5:12 And I will cut off witchcrafts
out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers: 5:13 Thy
graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the
midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands.

5:14 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will
I destroy thy cities.

5:15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen,
such as they have not heard.

6:1 Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the
mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.

6:2 Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD's controversy, and ye strong
foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with his
people, and he will plead with Israel.

6:3 O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I
wearied thee? testify against me.

6:4 For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee
out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and
Miriam.

6:5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and
what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal;
that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD.

6:6 Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before the
high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of
a year old?  6:7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, or
with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my
transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?  6:8 He
hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require
of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with
thy God?  6:9 The LORD's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of
wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.

6:10 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the
wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?  6:11 Shall I count
them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful
weights?  6:12 For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the
inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in
their mouth.

6:13 Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making
thee desolate because of thy sins.

6:14 Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall
be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not
deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.

6:15 Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the
olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but
shalt not drink wine.

6:16 For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house
of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a
desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall
bear the reproach of my people.

7:1 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits,
as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat: my
soul desired the firstripe fruit.

7:2 The good man is perished out of the earth: and there is none
upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every man
his brother with a net.

7:3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince
asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man, he
uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.

7:4 The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a
thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation cometh; now
shall be their perplexity.

7:5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide: keep
the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.

7:6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up
against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a
man's enemies are the men of his own house.

7:7 Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait for the God of my
salvation: my God will hear me.

7:8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall, I shall arise;
when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.

7:9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have sinned
against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me: he
will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his
righteousness.

7:10 Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame shall cover
her which said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? mine eyes shall
behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

7:11 In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that day shall the
decree be far removed.

7:12 In that day also he shall come even to thee from Assyria, and
from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river,
and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.

7:13 Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them that
dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.

7:14 Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which
dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in
Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

7:15 According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will
I shew unto him marvellous things.

7:16 The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they
shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.

7:17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of
their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD
our God, and shall fear because of thee.

7:18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth
by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not
his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.

7:19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will
subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the
depths of the sea.

7:20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham,
which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.