Hear ye now what Jehovah saith: Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
Hear, O ye mountains, Jehovah's controversy, and ye enduring foundations of the earth; for Jehovah hath a controversy with his people, and he will contend with Israel.
O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.
For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him; remember from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteous acts of Jehovah.
Wherewith shall I come before Jehovah, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old?
will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?
The voice of Jehovah crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom will {According to Septuagint Version, Vulgate, and Syriac, fear.}see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.
Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a scant {Hebrew: ephah.}measure that is abominable?
Shall I be pure with wicked balances, and with a bag of deceitful weights?
For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
Therefore I also have smitten thee with a grievous wound; I have made thee desolate because of thy sins.
Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy {Or, emptiness}humiliation shall be in the midst of thee: and thou shalt put away, but shalt not save; and that which thou savest will I give up to the sword.
Thou shalt sow, but shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but shalt not anoint thee with oil; and the vintage, but shalt not drink the wine.
For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I may make thee {Or, an astonishment}a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof a hissing: and ye shall bear the reproach of my people.
Querverweise zu Micha 6,8 Mich 6,8
Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus?
Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Jehovah in ceasing to pray for you: but I will instruct you in the good and the right way.
And now, Israel, what doth Jehovah thy God require of thee, but to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Jehovah thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,
For I have known him, to the end that he may command his children and his household after him, that they may keep the way of Jehovah, to do righteousness and justice; to the end that Jehovah may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.
All the day long he dealeth graciously, and lendeth;And his seed is blessed.
and Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters:
For how knowest thou, O wife, whether thou shalt save thy husband? or how knowest thou, O husband, whether thou shalt save thy wife?
Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right ordinances and true laws, good statutes and commandments,
to keep the commandments of Jehovah, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good?
And Samuel said, Hath Jehovah as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness:He is gracious, and merciful, and righteous.
I also walked contrary unto them, and brought them into the land of their enemies: if then their uncircumcised heart be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity;
But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren?
But it is good for me to draw near unto God:I have made the Lord Jehovah my refuge,That I may tell of all thy works.
To do righteousness and justiceIs more acceptable to Jehovah than sacrifice.
He hath dispersed, he hath given to the needy;His righteousness endureth for ever:His horn shall be exalted with honor.
Nevertheless certain men of Asher and Manasseh and of Zebulun humbled themselves, and came to Jerusalem.
It is good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the salvation of Jehovah.
{Or, Let us hear the conclusion of the whole master}This is the end of the matter; all hath been heard: Fear God, and keep his commandments; for {Or, this is the duty of all men}this is the whole duty of man.
The righteous perisheth, and no man layeth it to heart; and {Or, godly}merciful men are taken away, none considering that the righteous is taken away {Or, through wickedness}from the evil to come.
Notwithstanding Hezekiah humbled himself for {Hebrew: the lifting up.}the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the wrath of Jehovah came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah.
{Many ancient authorities read but few things are needful, or one.}but one thing is needful: for Mary hath chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.
Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
learn to do well; seek justice, {Or, set right the oppressor}relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Come now, and let us reason together, saith Jehovah: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land:
He entereth into peace; they rest in their beds, each one that walketh {Or, straight before him}in his uprightness.
And when he was in distress, he besought Jehovah his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers.
But if what I would not, that I do, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Is not this the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thy healing shall spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of Jehovah shall be thy rearward.
Then shalt thou call, and Jehovah will answer; thou shalt cry, and he will say, Here I am.If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly;
and if thou {Or, bestow on the hungry that which thy soul desireth}draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then shall thy light rise in darkness, and thine obscurity be as the noonday;
and Jehovah will guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in {Or, drought}dry places, and make strong thy bones; and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.
And he prayed unto him; and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that Jehovah he was God.
Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace,
Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, are these.
For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor;
if ye oppress not the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your own hurt:
Then his lord called him unto him, and saith to him, Thou wicked {Greek: bondservant.}servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou besoughtest me:
shouldest not thou also have had mercy on thy fellow-servant, even as I had mercy on thee?
And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due.
So shall also my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not every one his brother from your hearts.
His prayer also, and how God was entreated of him, and all his sin and his trespass, and the places wherein he built high places, and set up the Asherim and the graven images, before he humbled himself: behold, they are written in the history of {Or, the seers}Hozai.
For I desire {Or, kindness}goodness, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than burnt-offerings.
Be ye merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
And he humbled not himself before Jehovah, as Manasseh his father had humbled himself; but this same Amon {Or, became guilty}trespassed more and more.
Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep kindness and justice, and wait for thy God continually.
and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, even as God also in Christ forgave {Many ancient authorities read us.}you.
because thy heart was tender, and thou didst humble thyself before God, when thou heardest his words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof, and hast humbled thyself before me, and hast rent thy clothes, and wept before me; I also have heard thee, saith Jehovah.
But let justice roll down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream.
Put on therefore, as God's elect, holy and beloved, a heart of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering;
For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy: I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
Seek ye Jehovah, all ye meek of the earth, that have kept his ordinances; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye will be hid in the day of Jehovah's anger.
Finally, be ye all likeminded, {Greek: sympathetic.}compassionate, loving as brethren, tenderhearted, humbleminded:
For all these things hath my hand made, and so all these things came to be, saith Jehovah: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my word.
Bring forth therefore fruit worthy of {Or, your repentance}repentance:
and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham.
And even now the axe lieth at the root of the trees: every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
that thou mayest remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I have forgiven thee all that thou hast done, saith the Lord Jehovah.
and thou shalt love the Lord thy God {Greek: from.}with all thy heart, and {Greek: from.}with all thy soul, and {Greek: from.}with all thy mind, and {Greek: from.}with all thy strength.
The second is this, {Leviticus 19:18.}Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
And the scribe said unto him, Of a truth, Teacher, thou hast well said that he is one; and there is none other but he:
and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is much more than all whole burnt-offerings and sacrifices.
And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.
Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven; for all his works are truth, and his ways justice; and those that walk in pride he is able to abase.
But woe unto you Pharisees! for ye tithe mint and rue and every herb, and pass over justice and the love of God: but these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
For the grace of God {Or, hath appeared to all men, bringing salvation}hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men,
But the {See marginal note on chapter 3:12.}publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote his breast, saying, God, {Or, be thou propitiated}be thou merciful to me {Or, the sinner}a sinner.
I say unto you, This man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be humbled; but he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.
And they were bringing unto him also their babes, that he should touch them: but when the disciples saw it, they rebuked them.
But Jesus called them unto him, saying, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for {Or, of such is}to such belongeth the kingdom of God.
Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall in no wise enter therein.
instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present {Or, age}world;
Brethren, my heart's {Greek: good pleasure.}desire and my supplication to God is for them, that they may be saved.
For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge.
For being ignorant of God's righteousness, and seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.
Yea, and for this very cause adding on your part all diligence, in your faith supply virtue; and in your virtue knowledge;
and in your knowledge self-control; and in your self-control {Or, stedfastness}patience; and in your {Or, stedfastness}patience godliness;
and in your godliness {Greek: love of the brethren.}brotherly kindness; and in your {Greek: love of the brethren.}brotherly kindness love.
For if these things are yours and abound, they make you to be not idle nor unfruitful unto the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But he giveth {Greek: a greater grace.}more grace. Wherefore the scripture saith, {Proverbs 3:34.}God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.
Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye doubleminded.
Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall exalt you.
{Or, Likewise...elder; yea, all of you one to another. Gird yourselves with humility}Likewise, ye younger, be subject unto the elder. Yea, all of you gird yourselves with humility, to serve one another: for God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time;