American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
The word of Jehovah that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
Hear, ye peoples, all of you; hearken, O earth, and {Hebrew: the fullness thereof.}all that therein is: and let the Lord Jehovah be witness {Or, among}against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
For, behold, Jehovah cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.
And the mountains shall be melted under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, as waters that are poured down a steep place.
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?
Therefore I will make Samaria as a heap of the field, and as places for planting vineyards; and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will uncover the foundations thereof.
And all her graven images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her hires shall be burned with fire, and all her idols will I lay desolate; for of the hire of a harlot hath she gathered them, and unto the hire of a harlot shall they return.
For this will I lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackals, and a lamentation like the ostriches.
For her wounds are incurable; for it is come even unto Judah; it reacheth unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.
Tell it not in Gath, weep not at all: at {That is, A house of dust.}Beth-le-aphrah {Another reading is, roll thyself}have I rolled myself in the dust.
Pass away, O {Hebrew: inhabitress.}inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame: the {Hebrew: inhabitress.}inhabitant of Zaanan is not come forth; the wailing of Beth-ezel shall take from you the {Or, standing-place}stay thereof.
For the {Hebrew: inhabitress.}inhabitant of Maroth {Or, is in travail for}waiteth anxiously for good, because evil is come down from Jehovah unto the gate of Jerusalem.
Bind the chariot to the swift steed, O {Hebrew: inhabitress.}inhabitant of Lachish: she was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion; for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee.
Therefore shalt thou give a parting gift to Moresheth-gath: the houses of Achzib shall be a {Hebrew: achzab.}deceitful thing unto the kings of Israel.
I will yet bring unto thee, O {Hebrew: inhabitress.}inhabitant of Mareshah, him that shall possess thee: the glory of Israel shall come even unto Adullam.
Make thee bald, and cut off thy hair for the children of thy delight: enlarge thy baldness as the {Or, vulture}eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.
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.
And they covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.
Therefore thus saith Jehovah: Behold, against this family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks, neither shall ye walk haughtily; for it is an evil time.
In that day shall they take up a parable against you, and lament {Or, with the lamentation, It is done; and say &c.}with a doleful lamentation, and say, We are utterly ruined: he changeth the portion of my people: how doth he {Or, depart from }remove it from me! to the rebellious he divideth our fields.
Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast the line by lot in the assembly of Jehovah.
{Or, Prophesy ye not, they are ever prophesying, say they Hebrew: Drop &c. See Amos 7:16.}Prophesy ye not, thus they prophesy. They shall not prophesy {Or, of these things: their reproaches never cease}to these: reproaches shall not depart.
{Or, O thou that art named the house of Jacob}Shall it be said, O house of Jacob, Is the Spirit of Jehovah {Or, impatient Hebrew: shortened.}straitened? are these his doings? Do not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly?
But {Hebrew: yesterday.}of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye strip the robe from off the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war.
The women of my people ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their young children ye take away my glory for ever.
Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your resting-place; because of uncleanness that destroyeth, even with a grievous destruction.
If a man walking {Or, in wind and falsehood}in a spirit of falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people.
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 a flock in the midst of their pasture; they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men.
The breaker is gone up before them: they have broken forth and passed on to the gate, and are gone out thereat; and their king is passed on before them, and Jehovah at the head of them.
Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no room, and ye be made to dwell alone in the midst of the land!
In mine ears saith Jehovah of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant.
For ten acres of vineyard shall yield one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.
Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning, that they may follow strong drink; that tarry late into the night, till wine inflame them!
And the harp and the lute, the tabret and the pipe, and wine, are in their feasts; but they regard not the work of Jehovah, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
Therefore my people are gone into captivity for lack of knowledge; and {Hebrew: their glory are men of famine.}their honorable men are famished, and their multitude are parched with thirst.
Therefore Sheol hath enlarged its desire, and opened its mouth without measure; and their glory, and their multitude, and their {Or, tumult}pomp, and he that rejoiceth among them, descend into it.
And the mean man is bowed down, and the great man is humbled, and the eyes of the lofty are humbled:
but Jehovah of hosts is exalted in justice, and God the Holy One is sanctified in righteousness.
Then shall the lambs feed as in their pasture, and the waste places of the fat ones shall {Or, sorjourners}wanderers eat.
Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, and sin as it were with a cart rope;
that say, Let him make speed, let him hasten his work, that we may see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and come, that we may know it!
Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!
Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink;
that justify the wicked for a bribe, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!
Therefore as the tongue of fire devoureth the stubble, and as the dry grass sinketh down in the flame, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust; because they have rejected the {Or, teaching}law of Jehovah of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
Therefore is the anger of Jehovah kindled against his people, and he hath stretched forth his hand against them, and hath smitten them; and the mountains tremble, and their dead bodies are as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out still.
And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss for {Hebrew: him.}them from the end of the earth; and, behold, {Hebrew: he (and in the following verses).}they shall come with speed swiftly.
None shall be weary nor stumble among them; none shall slumber nor sleep; neither shall the girdle of their loins be loosed, nor the latchet of their shoes be broken:
whose arrows are sharp, and all their bows bent; their horses' hoofs shall be accounted as flint, and their wheels as a whirlwind:
their roaring shall be like a lioness, they shall roar like young lions; yea, they shall roar, and lay hold of the prey, and carry it away safe, and there shall be none to deliver.
And they shall roar {Or, over}against them in that day like the roaring of the sea: and if one look unto the land, {According to the Massorette text, behold, darkness; distress and light; it is dark &c.}behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened in the clouds thereof.
Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster to eat; {Or, not first-ripe fig which my soul desired}my soul desireth the first-ripe fig.
Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, Jehovah of hosts.
He deviseth iniquity upon his bed;He setteth himself in a way that is not good;He abhorreth not evil.
When I remember thee upon my bed, {Or, I meditate}And meditate on thee in the night-watches.
{Or, Be ye angry}Stand in awe, and sin not:Commune with your own heart upon your bed, and be still. [Selah
{Or, Then shall the wind sweep by, and he shall pass away}Then shall he sweep by as a wind, and shall {Or, transgress}pass over, and be guilty, even he whose might is his god.
It is in the power of my hand to do you hurt: but the God of your father spake unto me yesternight, saying, Take heed to thyself that thou speak not to Jacob either good or bad.
Withhold not good from them to whom it is due,When it is in the power of thy hand to do it.
{Psalm 36:1}There is no fear of God before their eyes.