Micah 3 - 6

Yahweh Will Not Answer

And I said,

“Hear now, heads of Jacob

And rulers of the house of Israel.

Is it not for you to know justice?

You who hate good and love evil,

Who tear off their skin from them

And their flesh from their bones,

And who eat the flesh of my people,

Strip off their skin from them,

Break their bones,

And spread them out as for the pot

And as meat in a caldron.”

Then they will cry out to Yahweh,

But He will not answer them.

Instead, He will hide His face from them at that time

Because they have practiced evil deeds.

5 Thus says Yahweh concerning the prophets who lead my people astray;

When they have something to bite with their teeth,

They call out, “Peace,”

But against him who puts nothing in their mouths,

They set themselves apart for war.

Therefore it will be night for you—without vision,

And darkness for you—without divination.

The sun will go down on the prophets,

And the day will grow black over them.

The seers will be ashamed,

And the diviners will be humiliated.

Indeed, they will all cover their mouths

Because there is no answer from God.

On the other hand I am filled with power—

With the Spirit of Yahweh—

And with justice and might

To declare to Jacob his transgression,

Even to Israel his sin.

Now hear this, heads of the house of Jacob

And rulers of the house of Israel,

Who abhor justice

And twist everything that is straight,

Who build Zion with bloodshed

And Jerusalem with violent injustice.

Her heads pronounce judgment for a bribe,

And her priests instruct for a price,

And her prophets divine for money.

Yet they lean on Yahweh saying,

“Is not Yahweh in our midst?

Evil will not come upon us.”

Therefore, on account of you

Zion will be plowed as a field;

Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,

And the mountain of the house of God will become high places of a forest.

The Law Will Go Forth from Zion

Now it will be that in the last days

The mountain of the house of Yahweh

Will be established as the head of the mountains,

And will be lifted up above the hills,

And the peoples will stream to it.

And many nations will come and say,

“Come and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh

And to the house of the God of Jacob,

That He may instruct us from His ways

And that we may walk in His paths.”

For from Zion will go forth the law,

And the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem.

And He will judge between many peoples

And will render decisions for mighty, distant nations.

And they will hammer their swords into plowshares

And their spears into pruning hooks;

Nation will not lift up sword against nation,

And never again will they learn war.

And each of them will sit under his vine

And under his fig tree,

With no one to make them tremble,

For the mouth of Yahweh of hosts has spoken.

Though all the peoples walk

Each in the name of his god,

As for us, we will walk

In the name of Yahweh our God forever and ever.

“In that day,” declares Yahweh,

“I will assemble the lame

And gather the banished,

Even those upon whom I have brought calamity.

I will make the lame a remnant

And the outcasts a mighty nation,

And Yahweh will reign over them in Mount Zion

From now on and forever.

And as for you, tower of the flock,

Hill of the daughter of Zion,

To you it will come—

Even the former dominion will come,

The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.

“Now, why do you make a loud shout?

Is there no king among you,

Or has your counselor perished,

That writhing has taken hold of you like a woman in childbirth?

Writhe and labor to give birth,

Daughter of Zion,

Like a woman in childbirth;

For now you will go out of the city,

Dwell in the field,

And go to Babylon.

There you will be delivered;

There Yahweh will redeem you

From the hand of your enemies.

But now many nations have been assembled against you

Who say, ‘Let her be polluted,

And let our eyes behold Zion in triumph.’

But they do not know the thoughts of Yahweh,

And they do not understand His counsel;

For He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion,

For your horn I will make iron,

And your hoofs I will make bronze,

That you may pulverize many peoples,

That you may devote to Yahweh their greedy gain unto destruction

And their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

The Ruler Will Come from Bethlehem

“Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops;

They have laid siege against us;

With a rod they will strike the judge of Israel on the cheek.

But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

Too little to be among the clans of Judah,

From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.

His goings forth are from everlasting,

From the ancient days.”

Therefore He will give them up until the time

When she who is in childbirth has borne a child.

Then the remainder of His brothers

Will return to the sons of Israel.

And He will stand and shepherd His flock

In the strength of Yahweh,

In the majesty of the name of Yahweh His God.

And they will remain

Because at that time He will be great

To the ends of the earth.

And this One will be peace.

When the Assyrian enters our land,

When he treads on our citadels,

Then we will raise against him

Seven shepherds and eight princes of men.

And they will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,

The land of Nimrod at its entrances;

And He will deliver us from the Assyrian

When he enters our land

And when he treads within our borders.

Then the remnant of Jacob

Will be among many peoples

Like dew from Yahweh,

Like showers on vegetation

Which do not hope for man

Or wait for the sons of men.

Then the remnant of Jacob

Will be among the nations,

Among many peoples

Like a lion among the beasts of the forest,

Like a young lion among flocks of sheep,

Which, if it passes through,

Tramples down and tears,

And there is none to deliver.

Your hand will be raised up against your adversaries,

And all your enemies will be cut off.

“And it will be in that day,” declares Yahweh,

“That I will cut off your horses from among you

And destroy your chariots.

And I will cut off the cities of your land

And pull down all your fortifications.

And I will cut off sorceries from your hand,

And you will have soothsaying no more.

And I will cut off your graven images

And your sacred pillars from among you

So that you will no longer worship

The work of your hands.

And I will uproot your Asherim from among you

And eradicate your cities.

And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath

On the nations which have not listened.”

Yahweh’s Case Against His People

Listen now to what Yahweh is saying,

“Arise, plead your case before the mountains,

And let the hills listen to your voice.

Listen, you mountains, to the case of Yahweh,

And you enduring foundations of the earth,

Because Yahweh has a case against His people;

Even with Israel He will reprove.

My people, what have I done to you,

And how have I wearied you? Answer Me.

Indeed, I brought you up from the land of Egypt

And ransomed you from the house of slavery,

And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

My people, remember now

What Balak king of Moab counseled

And what Balaam son of Beor answered him,

And from Shittim to Gilgal,

So that you might know the righteous acts of Yahweh.”

What Yahweh Requires

With what shall I come before Yahweh

And bow myself before the God on high?

Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,

With yearling calves?

Is Yahweh pleased with thousands of rams,

With ten thousand rivers of oil?

Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,

The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has told you, O man, what is good;

And what does Yahweh require of you

But to do justice, to love lovingkindness,

And to walk humbly with your God?

The voice of Yahweh will call to the city—

And it is sound wisdom to fear Your name:

“Hear, O tribe. Who even has appointed its time?

Is there yet a man in the wicked house,

Along with treasures of wickedness,

And a short measure which is cursed?

Can I purify wicked scales

And a bag of deceptive weights?

For the rich men of the city are full of violence,

And her inhabitants speak lies,

And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

So also I will make you sick, striking you down,

Desolating you because of your sins.

You will eat, but you will not be satisfied,

And your vileness will be in your midst.

And you will try to remove something for safekeeping,

But you will not cause anything to escape,

And that which you do have escape, I will give to the sword.

You will sow but you will not reap.

You will tread the olive but will not anoint yourself with oil;

And the grapes, but you will not drink wine.

The statutes of Omri

And all the works of the house of Ahab are kept;

And in their counsels you walk.

Therefore I will give you up as an object of horror

And your inhabitants as an object of hissing,

And you will bear the reproach of My people.”