Michah

Chapter 1

1YHWH’s word that came to Michah of Morasheth in the days of Yotam, Achaz, and Chizkiyahu, kings of Yehudah, which he saw concerning Shomron and Jerusalem. 2Hear, you peoples, all of you! Listen, O earth, and all that is therein. Let Adonai YHWH be witness against you, Adonai from his kodesh Beit HaMikdash. 3For behold, YHWH comes out of his place, and will come down and tread on the high places of the earth. 4The mountains melt under him, and the valleys split apart like wax before the fire, like waters that are poured down a steep place. 5“All this is for the disobedience of Yaakov, and for the sins of the house of Yisrael. What is the disobedience of Yaakov? Isn’t it Shomron? And what are the high places of Yehudah? Aren’t they Jerusalem? 6Therefore 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. 7All her idols will be beaten to pieces, all her Beit HaMikdash gifts will be burnt with fire, and I will destroy all her images; for of the hire of a prostitute has she gathered them, and to the hire of a prostitute shall they return.” 8For this I will lament and wail. I will go stripped and naked. I will howl like the jackals and mourn like the ostriches. 9For her wounds are incurable; for it has come even to Yehudah. It reaches to the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem. 10Don’t tell it in Gat. Don’t weep at all. At Beit Ofrah I have rolled myself in the dust. 11Pass on, inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame. The inhabitant of Zaanan won’t come out. The wailing of Beit Etzel will take from you his protection. 12For the inhabitant of Maroth waits anxiously for good, because evil has come down from YHWH to the gate of Jerusalem. 13Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitant of Lakhish. She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Tzion; for the transgressions of Yisrael were found in you. 14Therefore you will give a parting gift to Moresheth Gat. The houses of Akhziv will be a deceitful thing to the kings of Yisrael. 15I will yet bring a conqueror to you, inhabitants of Mareshah. The glory of Yisrael will come to Adullam. 16Shave your heads, and cut off your hair for the children of your delight. Enlarge your baldness like the vulture, for they have gone into captivity from you!

Chapter 2

1Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand. 2They covet fields and seize them, and houses, then take them away. They oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. 3Therefore YHWH says: “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. 4In 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!’” 5Therefore you will have no one who divides the land by lot in YHWH’s assembly. 6“Don’t prophesy!”—they prophesy— “Don’t prophesy about these things. Disgrace won’t overtake us.” 7Shall it be said, O house of Yaakov, “Is YHWH’s Ruach angry? Are these his doings? Don’t my words do good to him who walks blamelessly?” 8But 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. 9You drive the women of my people out from their pleasant houses; from their young children you take away my blessing forever. 10Arise, and depart! For this is not your resting place, because of uncleanness that destroys, even with a grievous destruction. 11If a man walking in a spirit of falsehood lies, saying, “I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink,” he would be the prophet of this people. 12I will surely assemble all of you, Yaakov. I will surely gather the remnant of Yisrael. I will put them together as the sheep of Botzra, as a flock in the middle of their pasture. They will swarm with people. 13He who breaks open the way goes up before them. They break through the gate, and go out. Their king passes on before them, with YHWH at their head.

Chapter 3

1I said, “Please listen, you heads of Yaakov, and rulers of the house of Yisrael: Isn’t it for you to know justice? 2You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones; 3who also eat the flesh of my people, and peel their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as meat within the cauldron. 4Then they will cry to YHWH, but he will not answer them. Yes, he will hide his face from them at that time, because they made their deeds evil.” 5YHWH says concerning the prophets who lead my people astray—for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, “Peace!” and whoever doesn’t provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him: 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. 7The seers shall be disappointed, and the diviners confounded. Yes, they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from Elohim.” 8But as for me, I am full of power by YHWH’s Ruach, and of judgement, and of might, to declare to Yaakov his disobedience, and to Yisrael his sin. 9Please listen to this, you heads of the house of Yaakov, and rulers of the house of Yisrael, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity, 10who build up Tzion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. 11Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money; yet they lean on YHWH, and say, “Isn’t YHWH amongst us? No disaster will come on us.” 12Therefore Tzion for your sake will be ploughed like a field, and Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the Beit HaMikdash like the high places of a forest.

Chapter 4

1But in the latter days, it will happen that the mountain of YHWH’s Beit HaMikdash will be established on the top of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills; and peoples will stream to it. 2Many nations will go and say, “Come! Let’s go up to the mountain of YHWH, and to the house of the Elohim of Yaakov; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the law will go out of Tzion, and YHWH’s word from Jerusalem; 3and he will judge between many peoples, and will decide concerning strong nations afar off. They will beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more. 4But every man will sit under his vine and under his fig tree. No one will make them afraid, for the mouth of YHWH Tzeva'ot has spoken. 5Indeed all the nations may walk in the name of their gods, but we will walk in the name of YHWH our Elohim forever and ever. 6“In that day,” says YHWH, “I will assemble that which is lame, and I will gather that which is driven away, and that which I have afflicted; 7and I will make that which was lame a remnant, and that which was cast far off a strong nation: and YHWH will reign over them on Har Tzion from then on, even forever.” 8You, tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Tzion, to you it will come. Yes, the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. 9Now why do you cry out aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your counsellor perished, that pains have taken hold of you as of a woman in travail? 10Be in pain, and labour to give birth, daughter of Tzion, like a woman in travail; for now you will go out of the city, and will dwell in the field, and will come even to Babylon. There you will be rescued. There YHWH will redeem you from the hand of your enemies. 11Now many nations have assembled against you, that say, “Let her be defiled, and let our eye gloat over Tzion.” 12But they don’t know the thoughts of YHWH, neither do they understand his counsel; for he has gathered them like the sheaves to the threshing floor. 13Arise and thresh, daughter of Tzion, for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs bronze. You will beat in pieces many peoples. I will devote their gain to YHWH, and their substance to Adonai of the whole earth.

Chapter 5

1Now you shall gather yourself in troops, daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Yisrael with a rod on the cheek. 2But you, Beit Lechem Ephrathah, being small amongst the clans of Yehudah, out of you one will come out to me who is to be ruler in Yisrael; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times. 3Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labour gives birth. Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Yisrael. 4He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of YHWH, in the majesty of the name of YHWH his Elohim. They will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth. 5He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land and when he marches through our fortresses, then we will raise against him seven shepherds, and eight leaders of men. 6They will rule the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in its gates. He will deliver us from the Ashuri, when he invades our land, and when he marches within our border. 7The remnant of Yaakov will be amongst many peoples like dew from YHWH, like showers on the grass, that don’t wait for man nor wait for the sons of men. 8The remnant of Yaakov will be amongst the nations, amongst many peoples, like a lion amongst the animals of the forest, like a young lion amongst the flocks of sheep; who, if he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is no one to deliver. 9Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries, and let all of your enemies be cut off. 10“It will happen in that day”, says YHWH, “that I will cut off your horses from amongst you and will destroy your chariots. 11I will cut off the cities of your land and will tear down all your strongholds. 12I will destroy witchcraft from your hand. You shall have no soothsayers. 13I will cut off your engraved images and your pillars from amongst you; and you shall no more worship the work of your hands. 14I will uproot your Asherah poles from amongst you; and I will destroy your cities. 15I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath on the nations that didn’t listen.”

Chapter 6

1Listen now to what YHWH says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say. 2Hear, you mountains, YHWH’s indictment, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for YHWH has a case against his people, and he will contend with Yisrael. 3My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me! 4For I brought you up out of the land of Mitzrayim, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam. 5My people, remember now what Balak king of Moab devised, and what Bilam the son of Beor answered him from Shitim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of YHWH.” 6How shall I come before YHWH, and bow myself before the exalted Elohim? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7Will YHWH be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does YHWH require of you, but to act justly, to love chesed, and to walk humbly with your Elohim? 9YHWH’s voice calls to the city— and wisdom fears your name— “Listen to the rod, and he who appointed it. 10Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a short ephah that is accursed? 11Shall I tolerate dishonest scales, and a bag of deceitful weights? 12Her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their speech. 13Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound. I have made you desolate because of your sins. 14You shall eat, but not be satisfied. Your hunger will be within you. You will store up, but not save, and that which you save I will give up to the sword. 15You will sow, but won’t reap. You will tread the olives, but won’t anoint yourself with oil; and crush grapes, but won’t drink the wine. 16For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of Achav’s house. You walk in their counsels, that I may make you a ruin, and your inhabitants a hissing. You will bear the reproach of my people.”

Chapter 7

1Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard. There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig. 2The godly man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright amongst men. They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net. 3Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe. The powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together. 4The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, even your visitation, has come; now is the time of their confusion. 5Don’t trust in a neighbour. Don’t put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth! 6For the son dishonours the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. 7But as for me, I will look to YHWH. I will wait for the Elohim of my salvation. My Elohim will hear me. 8Don’t rejoice against me, my enemy. When I fall, I will arise. When I sit in darkness, YHWH will be a light to me. 9I will bear the indignation of YHWH, because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my case and executes judgement for me. He will bring me out to the light. I will see his righteousness. 10Then my enemy will see it, and shame will cover her who said to me, “Where is YHWH your Elohim?” My eyes will see her. Now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets. 11A day to build your walls! In that day, he will extend your boundary. 12In that day they will come to you from Assyria and the cities of Mitzrayim, and from Mitzrayim even to the River, and from sea to sea, and mountain to mountain. 13Yet the land will be desolate because of those who dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings. 14Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your heritage, who dwell by themselves in a forest. Let them feed in the middle of fertile pasture land, in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. 15“As in the days of your coming out of the land of Mitzrayim, I will show them marvellous things.” 16The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will lay their hand on their mouth. Their ears will be deaf. 17They will lick the dust like a serpent. Like crawling things of the earth, they will come trembling out of their dens. They will come with fear to YHWH our Elohim, and will be afraid because of you. 18Who is a Elohim like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he delights in chesed. 19He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 20You will give truth to Yaakov, and chesed to Avraham, as you have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.