Rulers and Prophets Condemned

¹Then I said:“Hear now, O leaders of Jacob,you rulers of the house of Israel.Should you not know justice?

²You hate good and love evil.You tear the skin from my peopleand strip the flesh from their bones.

³You eat the flesh of my peopleafter stripping off their skinand breaking their bones.You chop them up like flesh for the cooking pot,like meat in a cauldron.”

⁴Then they will cry out to the LORD,but He will not answer them.At that time He will hide His face from thembecause of the evil they have done.

⁵This is what the LORD says:“As for the prophetswho lead My people astray,who proclaim peacewhile they chew with their teeth,but declare war against onewho puts nothing in their mouths:

⁶Therefore night will come over you without visions,and darkness without divination.The sun will set on these prophets,and the daylight will turn black over them.

⁷Then the seers will be ashamedand the diviners will be disgraced.They will all cover their mouthsbecause there is no answer from God.”

⁸As for me, however, I am filled with powerby the Spirit of the LORD,with justice and courage,to declare to Jacob his transgressionand to Israel his sin.

⁹Now hear this, O leaders of the house of Jacoband rulers of the house of Israel,who despise justiceand pervert all that is right,

¹⁰who build Zion with bloodshedand Jerusalem with iniquity.

¹¹Her leaders judge for a bribe,her priests teach for a price,and her prophets practice divination for money.Yet they lean upon the LORD, saying,“Is not the LORD among us?No disaster can come upon us.”

¹²Therefore, because of you,Zion will be plowed like a field,Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble,and the temple mount a wooded ridge.

Judgment to Come

¹This is the word of the LORD that came to Micah the Moreshite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem:

²Hear, O peoples, all of you;listen, O earth, and everyone in it!May the Lord GOD bear witness against you,the Lord from His holy temple.

³For behold, the LORD comes forthfrom His dwelling place;He will come down and treadon the high places of the earth.

⁴The mountains will melt beneath Him,and the valleys will split apart,like wax before the fire,like water rushing down a slope.

⁵All this is for the transgression of Jacoband the sins of the house of Israel.What is the transgression of Jacob?Is it not Samaria?And what is the high place of Judah?Is it not Jerusalem?

⁶Therefore I will make Samariaa heap of rubble in the open field,a planting area for a vineyard.I will pour her stones into the valleyand expose her foundations.

⁷All her carved images will be smashed to pieces;all her wages will be burned in the fire,and I will destroy all her idols.Since she collected the wages of a prostitute,they will be used again on a prostitute.

Weeping and Mourning

⁸Because of this I will lament and wail;I will walk barefoot and naked.I will howl like a jackaland mourn like an ostrich.

⁹For her wound is incurable;it has reached even Judah;it has approached the gate of my people,as far as Jerusalem itself.

¹⁰Do not tell it in Gath;do not weep at all.Roll in the dust in Beth-leaphrah.

¹¹Depart in shameful nakedness,O dwellers of Shaphir.The dwellers of Zaananwill not come out.Beth-ezelis in mourning;its support is taken from you.

¹²For the dwellers of Marothpined for good,but calamity came down from the LORD,even to the gate of Jerusalem.

¹³Harness your chariot horses,O dweller of Lachish.You were the beginning of sin to the Daughter of Zion,for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.

¹⁴Therefore, send farewell giftsto Moresheth-gath;the houses of Achzibwill prove deceptiveto the kings of Israel.

¹⁵I will again bring a conqueror against you,O dweller of Mareshah.The glory of Israel will come to Adullam.

¹⁶Shave yourselves bald and cut off your hairin mourning for your precious children;make yourselves as bald as an eagle,for they will go from you into exile.

Future Blessings for Zion

¹“Shout for joy, O barren woman,who bears no children;break forth in song and cry aloud,you who have never travailed;because more are the children of the desolate womanthan of her who has a husband,”says the LORD.

²“Enlarge the site of your tent,stretch out the curtains of your dwellings,do not hold back.Lengthen your ropesand drive your stakes in deep.

³For you will spread out to the right and left;your descendants will dispossess the nationsand inhabit the desolate cities.

⁴Do not be afraid, for you will not be put to shame;do not be intimidated, for you will not be humiliated.For you will forget the shame of your youthand will remember no more the reproach of your widowhood.

⁵For your husband is your Maker—the LORD of Hosts is His name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer;He is called the God of all the earth.

⁶For the LORD has called you back,like a wife deserted and wounded in spirit,like the rejected wife of one’s youth,”says your God.

⁷“For a brief moment I forsook you,but with great compassion I will bring you back.

⁸In a surge of angerI hid My face from you for a moment,but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,”says the LORD your Redeemer.

⁹“For to Me this is like the days of Noah,when I swore that the waters of Noahwould never again cover the earth.So I have sworn that I will not be angry with youor rebuke you.

¹⁰Though the mountains may be removedand the hills may be shaken,My loving devotion will not depart from you,and My covenant of peace will not be broken,”says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

¹¹“O afflicted city, lashed by storms,without solace,surely I will set your stones in antimonyand lay your foundations with sapphires.

¹²I will make your pinnacles of rubies,your gates of sparkling jewels,and all your walls of precious stones.

¹³Then all your sons will be taught by the LORD,and great will be their prosperity.

¹⁴In righteousness you will be established,far from oppression,for you will have no fear.Terror will be far removed,for it will not come near you.

¹⁵If anyone attacks you, it is not from Me;whoever assails you will fall before you.

¹⁶Behold, I have created the craftsmanwho fans the coals into flameand forges a weapon fit for its task;and I have created the destroyerto wreak havoc.

¹⁷No weapon formed against you shall prosper,and you will refute every tongue that accuses you.This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,and their vindication is from Me,”declares the LORD.

O God, Be Not Silent

¹O God, be not silent; be not speechless;be not still, O God.

²See how Your enemies rage,how Your foes have reared their heads.

³With cunning they scheme against Your peopleand conspire against those You cherish,

⁴saying, “Come, let us erase them as a nation;may the name of Israel be remembered no more.”

⁵For with one mind they plot together;they form an alliance against You—

⁶the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites,of Moab and the Hagrites,

⁷of Gebal, Ammon, and Amalek,of Philistia with the people of Tyre.

⁸Even Assyria has joined them,lending strength to the sons of Lot.Selah

⁹Do to them as You did to Midian,as to Sisera and Jabin at the River Kishon,

¹⁰who perished at Endorand became like dung on the ground.

¹¹Make their nobles like Oreb and Zeeb,and all their princes like Zebah and Zalmunna,

¹²who said, “Let us possess for ourselvesthe pastures of God.”

¹³Make them like tumbleweed, O my God,like chaff before the wind.

¹⁴As fire consumes a forest,as a flame sets the mountains ablaze,

¹⁵so pursue them with Your tempest,and terrify them with Your storm.

¹⁶Cover their faces with shame,that they may seek Your name, O LORD.

¹⁷May they be ever ashamed and terrified;may they perish in disgrace.

¹⁸May they know that You alone,whose name is the LORD,are Most High over all the earth.