Jonathan Micah

Judgment on Samaria and Jerusalem

1 The prophetic message from the Lord that came to Micah of Mareshah, during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah’s house, which he prophesied about Samaria and Jerusalem. 2 Listen, all you peoples! Pay attention, earth and everything in it! May the Memra of the Lord God testify against you, the Lord from His holy temple.

3 For the Lord is⁠a revealing Himself from the place where His Shekinah dwells. He will reveal Himself and trample the earth’s strongholds. 4 Mountains will dissolve beneath Him, and plains will split apart, like wax before a fire, like water pouring down a slope.

5 All this is because of the offenses of Jacob’s house and the sins of Israel’s house. Where did Jacob’s house offend? Wasn’t it in Samaria? Where did Judah’s house sin? Wasn’t it in Jerusalem?

6 I will turn Samaria into heaps in the fields, a deserted place for planting vineyards. I will throw her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations. 7 All her carved images will be smashed, and all her idols burned. I will leave every house of her worship in ruins. For they were collected from a prostitute’s earnings, and they will be handed over to the house of idol worshipers.

Mourning for Judah

8 Because of this they will mourn and howl, walking naked in chains. They will mourn like jackals and lament like ostriches.

9 For her wound is grievous. It has reached Judah’s house. It has come near to entering my people’s gates, as far as Jerusalem.

10 Do not report it in Gath. Do not weep at all. You who live in houses of dust, cover your heads with ashes.

11 Pass on, inhabitants of Shaphir, exposed, naked, and ashamed. No survivors will come out from the inhabitants of Zaanan. Mourn bitterly for your slain warriors, inhabitants of Beth Zula. You⁠b took desirable houses by force, joining one to another. Because of this, the best of your land will be taken from you.

12 You lived on the best land and hoped for good, but you⁠c refused to return to the Torah. What will you do? For disaster has come down from the Lord to enter Jerusalem’s gates.

13 Prepare the chariots, put bridles on the horses, inhabitants of Lachish. It is where the sins of Zion’s congregation began, for Israel’s rebels were found in you.

14 So you will send gifts to the possessors of Gath. The houses of Achzib will be handed over to the nations, because Israel’s kings sinned by worshiping idols in them.

15 I will again bring dispossessors against you, inhabitants of Mareshah. They will go up to Adullam and enter the territory of Israel’s land.

16 Pull out your hair and throw it away because of your beloved children. Like a vulture whose feathers have fallen out, make your head bald because of your children, for they have gone into exile.

Seizure of Houses and Fields

1 How terrible for those who plan violence, who lie in bed planning evil, then get up early and carry it out because they have the power! 2 They covet fields and steal them, and seize houses by force. They oppress a man and his household, a man and his inherited property.

3 So the Lord says, “I am planning disaster for this generation, a burden you will not be able to take off your necks. You will not walk upright, for it will be a time of disaster.”

4 At that time people will take up a proverb and a lament about you. In their suffering they will say, “We have been completely robbed! My people are removed from their allotted share, driven from their inheritance. Their fields are divided again and again.”

5 So you will have no one to stretch out a measuring line over an allotment in the Lord’s assembly.

Prophecy Rejected

6 “Do not prophesy! Do not teach this people, for they will not accept humiliation.”

7 Is what Jacob’s house says right? Has the Lord’s⁠a Memra been cut short? Are these His deeds? Aren’t all My words right? Everything I said I would bring, I have brought upon those who live truthfully.

8 Because of their sins My people are handed over to their enemies. Because of them nations rise and dispossess them, taking away their precious wealth. They cross their land without fear, and they return among them like people broken by war.

9 You expel My people’s congregation from their pleasant homes. Their children are taken away from them. Gone is their glory, which they said would last forever.

10 Get up and go into exile! This land is no resting place for the wicked. Because of its defilement they are destroyed, and you join together to make it unclean.

11 For they stray after false prophets, who prophesy lies to them and teach them about wine and drunkenness. As they learned to stray after false prophets, so⁠b this generation’s people will be exiled to a land of falsehood.

The Exiles Gathered

12 In the end I will gather all of you from Jacob’s house. I will bring your exiles together, the survivors of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in an enclosure, like a flock in a pen. The great number of people there will make a commotion.

13 Those who escape will go up as they did at first. A king will go up at their head, leading them.⁠c He will break the enemy who oppresses them and conquer fortified cities. They will possess the nations’ cities. Their king will lead them, and the Memra of the Lord will support them.

Rulers Who Oppress the People

1 I said, “Listen, leaders of Jacob and rulers of Israel’s house! Shouldn’t you understand justice? 2 You hate doing good and love doing evil. You⁠a seize My people’s possessions and take away their precious wealth. 3 You plunder My people’s possessions and take away their precious wealth, using up whatever remains. You divide them again, like someone breaking limbs into a pot, pieces into a cauldron.

4 “Then they will pray before the Lord, but He will not accept their prayer. At that time He will⁠b withdraw His Shekinah from them, because they have acted wickedly.”

False Prophets

5 The Lord says this about the false prophets who mislead My people. For someone who feeds them a feast of meat, they prophesy peace. Against someone who does not feed them, they prepare war.

6 So you will be ashamed to prophesy and⁠c humiliated to teach. Trouble like darkness will cover the false prophets, and their time will grow dark.

7 The false prophets will be ashamed, and the teachers humiliated. All will cover their upper lips like mourners, for they have no spirit of prophecy from the Lord.

8 But I am filled with the strength of the prophetic spirit from the Lord, with true judgment and courage, to tell Jacob his offenses and Israel his sins.

Judgment on Jerusalem

9 Listen to this, leaders of Jacob’s house and rulers of Israel’s house! You corrupt the ways of justice and twist everything that is right. 10 You build⁠d your houses in Zion through bloodshed, and Jerusalem through deceit.

11 Her leaders judge for bribes, her priests instruct for payment, and her prophets teach for silver. Yet they rely on the Lord’s Memra, saying, “Isn’t the Lord’s Shekinah among us? No disaster will come upon us,” they say.

12 So because of your sins Zion will be plowed like a field. Jerusalem will become heaps of rubble, and the mountain of the sanctuary a wooded thicket.

The Mountain of the Lord’s Sanctuary

1 In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s sanctuary will stand firmly at the head of the mountains, raised above the hills. Kingdoms will turn to worship on it. 2 Many peoples will go and say, “Come, let’s climb the mountain of the Lord’s sanctuary, to the house of the Shekinah of Jacob’s God. He will teach us⁠a ways that are right before Him, and we will follow the teaching of His Torah.” For the Torah will go out from Zion, and instruction in the Lord’s word from Jerusalem.

3 He will judge between many peoples and settle matters for powerful kings forever. They will hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into sickles. No people will take up weapons against another, and they will no longer train for war. 4 Each person will sit beneath the fruit of his vines and fig trees, with no one to frighten him. For this is what the Memra of the Lord of armies has decreed.

5 All the peoples⁠b will be condemned because they worshiped idols. But we will rely on the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.

The Kingdom Restored

6 At that time, says the Lord God, I will gather those driven into exile, and bring together those scattered, and those treated harshly⁠c because of My people’s sins.

7 I will make the displaced into a surviving remnant, and the scattered into a strong people. The Lord’s⁠d kingdom will be revealed over them on Mount Zion, from this time and forever.

8 And you,⁠e Messiah of Israel, hidden because of the sins of Zion’s congregation, the kingdom is destined to come to you. The former rule will return to the kingdom of Jerusalem’s congregation.

Exile and Deliverance

9 Why do you join yourself to the nations? Is there no king among you? Have your royal advisers perished? For distress and trembling have seized you like a woman’s labor pains.

10 Tremble and shake, congregation of Zion, like a woman giving birth. For you will leave the city and camp in the fields, going as far as Babylon. There you will be rescued. There the Lord will redeem you from your enemies’ power.

11 Many nations will gather against you, saying, “When will she be condemned, so that we can see Zion’s downfall?”

12 But they do not know the Lord’s secrets or understand His plans. He has brought them together like sheaves on a threshing floor.

13 Rise and strike down your enemies, congregation of Zion! I will⁠f make your people strong as iron and their survivors hard as bronze. You will strike down many peoples. You will destroy their property before the Lord, and their precious wealth before the Lord of the whole earth.

14 Now gather in troops, city under siege! They struck Israel’s judges on the cheek with a staff.

The Ruler From Bethlehem

1 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too small to be counted among the thousands of Judah’s house, from you the Messiah will come before Me to rule Israel, whose name was spoken of long ago, from ancient times.⁠a 2 So they will be handed over when the woman in labor gives birth. The rest of their brothers will then rely on the people of Israel.

3 He will rise and rule with strength from the Lord, in the greatness of the name of the Lord his God. They will⁠b return from their exiles, for his name will then be great to the ends of the earth.

4 There will be peace for us when the Assyrian comes into our land, and when he treads on our fortresses. We will appoint seven kings over us, eight human princes.

5 They will rule Assyria’s land with the sword, and Nimrod’s land with the strength of its fortresses. He will rescue us from the Assyrian, so that he will not enter our land or tread on our territory.

The Survivors of Jacob

6 The survivors of Jacob’s house will live among many peoples, like dew from the Lord, like drops of spring rain on grass. They do not wait for anyone or depend on mortals.

7 The survivors of Jacob’s house will be among the nations, amid many peoples, like a lion among forest animals, like a young lion among flocks of sheep. As it passes, it tramples and kills, and no one can rescue them.

8 From this time on, Israel, your hand will overpower your enemies, and all your enemies will be destroyed.

Judgment on the Nations

9 At that time, says the Lord, I will destroy the⁠c peoples’ horses in your midst and demolish their chariots. 10 I will destroy the peoples’ cities in your land and demolish all their mighty fortresses.

11 I will destroy the sorcerers among you, and you will have no more diviners.

12 I will destroy the peoples’ carved images and their pillars from among you. You will no longer worship what your own hands have made. 13 I will uproot the peoples’ plantings from among you, and destroy your enemies.

14 In anger and fury I will bring judgment and punishment on the nations that⁠d have not accepted the Torah’s teaching.

The Lord’s Case Against His People

1 Listen to what the Lord says: “Get up and present your case to the mountains. Let the hills hear your voice.” 2 Mountains, hear the Lord’s case, and you roots of the earth’s foundations! For the Lord has a case against His people. He is bringing a charge against Israel’s house.

3 “My people, what good did I promise you that I have not done? What harsh burden have I increased against you? Testify before Me.

4 “I brought you up from Egypt’s land and redeemed you from the house of slavery. I sent three prophets ahead of you, Moses⁠a to teach the tradition of judgments, Aaron to make atonement for the people, and Miriam to teach the women. 5 “My people, remember what Balak king of Moab planned, and what Balaam son of Beor answered him. Weren’t mighty deeds done for you from the valley of Shittim to Gilgal’s house, so that you would know the Lord’s righteous deeds?”

What the Lord Requires

6 With what should I⁠b worship before the Lord, and bow before God whose Shekinah is in the highest heavens? Should I worship before Him with burnt offerings, with year-old calves? 7 Will the Lord accept thousands of rams, tens of thousands of streams of oil? Should I give my firstborn for my offenses, the beloved child of my body for my own sins?

8 You have been told, human being, what is good. What does the Lord ask of you? Only to do true justice, to love acts of kindness, and to be modest as you live in reverence for your God.

Dishonest Measures and Their Punishment

9 The Lord’s⁠c prophets cry out to the city, and its teachers revere Your name. Listen, king and ruler, and all the rest of the people of the land!

10 Are there still treasuries of wickedness in the wicked person’s house, and dishonest measures that bring a curse? 11 Can they be acquitted with dishonest scales, and a bag containing weights both larger and smaller than they should be?

12 Her rich people fill their stores through violence, and her inhabitants speak lies. The tongues in their mouths speak deceitfully.

13 I too have brought sickness and plague upon you, and have left you desolate because you sinned.

14 You will eat without being satisfied, and sickness will fill your insides. You will acquire things but not save them. What you do save I will hand over to be destroyed by the sword.

15 You will sow but not reap, press olives but not rub yourself with oil, and press grapes but not drink wine.

16 You kept the decrees of Omri’s house and carried out the practices of Ahab’s house. You followed their rules, which will bring you to ruin and leave her inhabitants devastated. You will receive My people’s disgrace.

The Prophet’s Lament

1 The prophet said, “How miserable I am! I have become like one of the good people taken away, when the faithful vanished from the land, like the last summer fruit, like gleanings after the grape harvest.⁠a No one does good deeds. I long for the good.” 2 The faithful have vanished from the land. No upright person remains among human beings. They all lie in ambush to shed innocent blood. Each hands his brother over to destruction.

3 They use their hands for evil, not for good. The ruler makes demands. The judge says, “Do something for me, and I’ll repay you.” The great man speaks his heart’s desire. How terrible for them, for they have corrupted it!

4 It is hard for the good among them to escape his power, as from a thornbush, and for the upright as from a thorny hedge. The day when you hoped for good is a day of disaster. The time of punishment for your deeds has arrived. Now their confusion will come.

5 Do not rely on a friend or trust a companion. Guard what you say even from the wife of your covenant. 6 For⁠b at that time a son will dishonor his father, a daughter will quarrel with her mother, and a daughter-in-law will despise her mother-in-law. A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.

Hope for Deliverance

7 But I will⁠c find joy in the Lord’s Memra, delight in the God who brings about my salvation. My God will accept my prayer.

8 Rome,⁠d my enemy, do not celebrate over me! Though I have fallen, I will rise. Though I have lived as if in darkness, the Lord will shine on me.

9 Jerusalem said, “I have accepted a curse from the Lord because I sinned before Him. I will bear it until He judges my case and avenges my humiliation. He will bring me out into the light, and I will see His justice.

10 “Rome, my enemy, will see, and shame will cover her. She said to me, ‘Where were you saved by the Memra of the Lord your God?’ My eyes will see her downfall. She will be trampled like mud in the streets.

11 “At that time Israel’s congregations will be rebuilt, and⁠e the nations’ decrees will be abolished. 12 At that time the exiles will gather from Assyria and the fortified cities, from⁠f Greater Armenia and the besieged towns, as far as the Euphrates, the Western Sea, and the mountain ranges. 13 The land will become desolate because of its inhabitants, as the result of their deeds.”

Prayer for the People

14 Sustain Your people through Your Memra. The people of Your inheritance will live apart in⁠g the world that will be renewed. Those desolate in the forest will settle in Carmel. They will be sustained in Bashan’s land and Gilead, as in ancient days.

15 As when they left the land of Egypt, I will show them wonders.

16 The nations will see and be ashamed of all their strength. They will put their hands over their mouths, and their ears will be deafened.

17 They will fall face down on the ground, like snakes crawling in the dust. They will tremble as they leave their fortresses. They will be destroyed before the Lord our God, and will be afraid before You.

God’s Forgiveness

18 There is⁠h none besides You! You are the God who forgives wrongdoing and passes over the offenses of the survivors of His inheritance. He does not keep His anger forever, because He delights in doing good.

19 His Memra will again have mercy on us. In His love He will trample our offenses and throw all Israel’s sins into the depths of the sea.

20 You will fulfill Your faithfulness to Jacob for his children, as You swore to him at Bethel, and Your kindness to Abraham for his descendants, as You swore to him between the pieces.⁠i Remember for us the binding of Isaac, bound on the altar before You. Do kind deeds for us, as You swore to our ancestors in ancient days.