Mikhah, starting at chapter 1
{1:1} The word of the LORD that came to Mikhah the Morashti in the
days of Yotam, Achaz, and Hizkiyahu, kings of Yehudah, which he saw
concerning Shomron and Yerushalayim.
{1:2} Hear, you peoples, all of you.
Listen, O [1>]eretz[<1], and all that is therein:
And let the Lord GOD be witness against you,
The Lord from his holy temple.
{1:3} For, behold, the LORD comes forth out of his place,
And will come down and tread on the high places of the [2>]eretz[<2].
{1:4} The mountains melt under him,
And the valleys split apart,
Like wax before the fire,
Like waters that are poured down a steep place.
{1:5} "All this is for the disobedience of Ya`akov,
And for the sins of the house of Yisra'el.
What is the disobedience of Ya`akov?
Isn't it Shomron?
And what are the high places of Yehudah?
Aren't they Yerushalayim?
{1:6} Therefore I will make Shomron like a rubble heap of the field,
Like places for planting vineyards;
And I will pour down its stones into the valley,
And I will uncover its foundations.
{1:7} All her idols will be beaten to pieces,
And all her temple gifts will be burned with fire,
And all her images I will destroy;
For of the hire of a prostitute has she gathered them,
And to the hire of a prostitute shall they return."
{1:8} For this I will lament and wail;
I will go stripped and naked;
I will howl like the jackals,
And moan like the daughters of owls.
{1:9} For her wounds are incurable;
For it has come even to Yehudah.
It reaches to the gate of my people,
Even to Yerushalayim.
{1:10} Don't tell it in Gat,
Don't weep at all.
At Beit-La`afrah I have rolled myself in the dust.
{1:11} Pass on, inhabitant of Shafir, in nakedness and shame.
The inhabitant of Tza'anan won't come out.
The wailing of Beit-Ha`etzel will take from you his protection.
{1:12} For the inhabitant of Marot waits anxiously for good,
Because evil has come down from the LORD to the gate of Yerushalayim.
{1:13} Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitant of Lakhish.
She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Tziyon;
For the transgressions of Yisra'el were found in you.
{1:14} Therefore you will give a parting gift to Moreshet-Gat.
The houses of Akhziv will be a deceitful thing to the kings of
Yisra'el.
{1:15} I will yet bring to you, inhabitant of Mareshah,
He who is the glory of Yisra'el will come to `Adullam.
{1:16} Shave your heads,
And cut off your hair for the children of your delight.
Enlarge your baldness like the [3>]rakham[<3];
For they have gone into captivity from you!
{2:1} Woe to those who devise iniquity
And work evil on their beds!
When the morning is light, they practice it,
Because it is in the power of their hand.
{2:2} 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.
{2:3} Therefore thus says the LORD:
"Behold, I am planning against these people a disaster,
From which you will not remove your necks,
Neither will you walk haughtily;
For it is an evil time.
{2:4} In that day they will take up a parable against you,
And lament with a doleful lamentation, saying,
'We are utterly ruined!
My people's possession is divided up.
Indeed he takes it from me and assigns our fields to traitors!'"
{2:5} Therefore you will have no one who divides the land by lot in
the assembly of the LORD.
{2:6} "Don't you prophesy!"
They prophesy.
"Don't prophesy about these things.
Disgrace won't overtake us."
{2:7} Shall it be said, O house of Ya`akov:
"Is the Spirit of the LORD angry?
Are these his doings?
Don't my words do good to him who walks blamelessly?"
{2:8} But lately my people have risen up as an enemy.
You strip the robe and clothing from those who pass by without a
care, returning from battle.
{2:9} You drive the women of my people out from their pleasant houses;
From their young children you take away my blessing forever.
{2:10} Arise, and depart!
For this is not your resting place,
Because of uncleanness that destroys,
Even with a grievous destruction.
{2:11} If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies:
'I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink;'
He would be the prophet of this people.
{2:12} I will surely assemble, Ya`akov, all of you;
I will surely gather the remnant of Yisra'el;
I will put them together as the sheep of Botzrah,
As a flock in the midst of their pasture;
They will swarm with people.
{2:13} He who breaks open the way goes up before them.
They break through the gate, and go out.
And their king passes on before them,
With the LORD at their head."
{3:1} I said,
"Please listen, you heads of Ya`akov,
And rulers of the house of Yisra'el:
Isn't it for you to know justice?
{3:2} You who hate the good,
And love the evil;
Who tear off their skin,
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 break their bones,
And chop them in pieces, as for the pot,
And as flesh within the caldron.
{3:4} Then they will cry to the LORD,
But he will not answer them.
Yes, he will hide his face from them at that time,
Because they made their deeds evil."
{3:5} Thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who lead my people
astray; for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, "Shalom!" and
whoever doesn't provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him:
{3:6} "Therefore night is over you, with no vision,
And it is dark to you, that you may not divine;
And the sun will go down on the prophets,
And the day will be black over them.
{3:7} The seers shall be disappointed,
And the diviners confounded.
Yes, they shall all cover their lips;
For there is no answer from God."
{3:8} But as for me, I am full of power by the Spirit of the LORD,
And of judgment, and of might,
To declare to Ya`akov his disobedience,
And to Yisra'el his sin.
{3:9} Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Ya`akov,
And rulers of the house of Yisra'el,
Who abhor justice,
And pervert all equity.
{3:10} They build up Tziyon with blood,
And Yerushalayim with iniquity.
{3:11} Her leaders judge for bribes,
And her [1>]Kohanim[<1] teach for a price,
And her prophets of it tell forturnes for money:
Yet they lean on the LORD, and say,
Isn't the LORD in the midst of us?
No disaster will come on us.
{3:12} Therefore Tziyon for your sake will be plowed like a field,
And Yerushalayim will become heaps of rubble,
And the mountain of the temple like the high places of a forest.
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Footnotes:
[1] {1:2} earth
[2] {1:3} earth
[3] {1:16} vulture
[1] {3:11} priests
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