BOOK:Micah
1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite
in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw
concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
1:2 Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that
therein is: and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the LORD from
his holy temple.
1:3 For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place,
and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.
1:4 And the mountains shall be molten under him, and
the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that
are poured down a steep place.
1:5 For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for
the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is
it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?
1:6 Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field,
and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof
into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.
1:7 And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten
to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and
all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire
of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.
1:8 Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped
and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the
owls.
1:9 For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah;
he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.
1:10 Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all: in
the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust.
1:11 Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having
thy shame naked: the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning
of Bethezel; he shall receive of you his standing.
1:12 For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for
good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem.
1:13 O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to
the swift beast: she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion:
for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee.
1:14 Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moreshethgath:
the houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel.
1:15 Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant
of Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel.
1:16 Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children;
enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from
thee.
2:1 Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon
their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is
in the power of their hand.
2:2 And they covet fields, and take them by violence;
and houses, and take them away: so they oppress a man and his house, even
a man and his heritage.
2:3 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, against this
family do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks;
neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time is evil.
2:4 In that day shall one take up a parable against you,
and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled:
he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me!
turning away he hath divided our fields.
2:5 Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a
cord by lot in the congregation of the LORD.
2:6 Prophesy ye not, say they to them that prophesy:
they shall not prophesy to them, that they shall not take shame.
2:7 O thou that art named the house of Jacob, is the
spirit of the LORD straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do
good to him that walketh uprightly?
2:8 Even of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye
pull off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely as men
averse from war.
2:9 The women of my people have ye cast out from their
pleasant houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever.
2:10 Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest:
because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction.
2:11 If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood do
lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he
shall even be the prophet of this people.
2:12 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I
will surely gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the
sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they shall make
great noise by reason of the multitude of men.
2:13 The breaker is come up before them: they have broken
up, and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it: and their
king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of them.
3:1 And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and
ye princes of the house of Israel; Is it not for you to know judgment?
3:2 Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off
their skin from off them, 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 they break their bones, and chop them in pieces,
as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.
3:4 Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not
hear them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have
behaved themselves ill in their doings.
3:5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that
make my people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he
that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war against him.
3:6 Therefore night shall be unto you, that ye shall
not have a vision; and it shall be dark unto you, that ye shall not divine;
and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall be dark
over them.
3:7 Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners
confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer
of God.
3:8 But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the
LORD, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression,
and to Israel his sin.
3:9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob,
and princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and pervert all
equity.
3:10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with
iniquity.
3:11 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests
thereof teach for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet
will they lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none evil
can come upon us.
3:12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as
a field, and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house
as the high places of the forest.
4:1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that
the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of
the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall
flow unto it.
4:2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let
us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob;
and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the
law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4:3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke
strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against
nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
4:4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under
his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD
of hosts hath spoken it.
4:5 For all people will walk every one in the name of
his god, and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and
ever.
4:6 In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her
that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I
have afflicted;
4:7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her
that was cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them
in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.
4:8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of
the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion;
the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.
4:9 Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king
in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman
in travail.
4:10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter
of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the
city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon;
there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the
hand of thine enemies.
4:11 Now also many nations are gathered against thee,
that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.
4:12 But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither
understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into
the floor.
4:13 Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will
make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat
in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD,
and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.
5:1 Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops:
he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with
a rod upon the cheek.
5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little
among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto
me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of
old, from everlasting.
5:3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time that
she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren
shall return unto the children of Israel.
5:4 And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the
LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide:
for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
5:5 And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian
shall come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then
shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
5:6 And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the
sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver
us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth
within our borders.
5:7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of
many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that
tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.
5:8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles
in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as
a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth
down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.
5:9 Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries,
and all thine enemies shall be cut off.
5:10 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the
LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will
destroy thy chariots:
5:11 And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw
down all thy strong holds:
5:12 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand;
and thou shalt have no more soothsayers:
5:13 Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing
images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work
of thine hands.
5:14 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst
of thee: so will I destroy thy cities.
5:15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon
the heathen, such as they have not heard.
6:1 Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou
before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
6:2 Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD's controversy, and
ye strong foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with
his people, and he will plead with Israel.
6:3 O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein
have I wearied thee? testify against me.
6:4 For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and
redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam.
6:5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab
consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto
Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD.
6:6 Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself
before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with
calves of a year old?
6:7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my
transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
6:8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what
doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and
to walk humbly with thy God?
6:9 The LORD's voice crieth unto the city, and the man
of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.
6:10 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the
house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?
6:11 Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances,
and with the bag of deceitful weights?
6:12 For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and
the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful
in their mouth.
6:13 Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting
thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.
6:14 Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting
down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt
not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.
6:15 Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt
tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine,
but shalt not drink wine.
6:16 For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works
of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make
thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye
shall bear the reproach of my people.
7:1 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the
summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage: there is no cluster
to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit.
7:2 The good man is perished out of the earth: and there
is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they hunt every
man his brother with a net.
7:3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly,
the prince asketh, and the judge asketh for a reward; and the great man,
he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.
7:4 The best of them is as a brier: the most upright
is sharper than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen and thy visitation
cometh; now shall be their perplexity.
7:5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in
a guide: keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
7:6 For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter
riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in
law; a man's enemies are the men of his own house.
7:7 Therefore I will look unto the LORD; I will wait
for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me.
7:8 Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy: when I fall,
I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD shall be a light unto me.
7:9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because
I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment
for me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness.
7:10 Then she that is mine enemy shall see it, and shame
shall cover her which said unto me, Where is the LORD thy God? mine eyes
shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets.
7:11 In the day that thy walls are to be built, in that
day shall the decree be far removed.
7:12 In that day also he shall come even to thee from
Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the
river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.
7:13 Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because
of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.
7:14 Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine
heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let
them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
7:15 According to the days of thy coming out of the land
of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things.
7:16 The nations shall see and be confounded at all their
might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be
deaf.
7:17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall
move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of
the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee.
7:18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity,
and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth
not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.
7:19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon
us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into
the depths of the sea.
7:20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy
to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.
BOOK:Nahum
1:1 The burden of Nineveh. The book of the vision of
Nahum the Elkoshite.
1:2 God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD
revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries,
and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.
1:3 The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and
will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind
and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
1:4 He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth
up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon
languisheth.
1:5 The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and
the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell
therein.
1:6 Who can stand before his indignation? and who can
abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are thrown down by him.
1:7 The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble;
and he knoweth them that trust in him.
1:8 But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter
end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
1:9 What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make
an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.
1:10 For while they be folden together as thorns, and
while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble
fully dry.
1:11 There is one come out of thee, that imagineth evil
against the LORD, a wicked counsellor.
1:12 Thus saith the LORD; Though they be quiet, and likewise
many, yet thus shall they be cut down, when he shall pass through. Though
I have afflicted thee, I will afflict thee no more.
1:13 For now will I break his yoke from off thee, and
will burst thy bonds in sunder.
1:14 And the LORD hath given a commandment concerning
thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will
I cut off the graven image and the molten image: I will make thy grave;
for thou art vile.
1:15 Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth
good tidings, that publisheth peace! O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts, perform
thy vows: for the wicked shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly
cut off.
2:1 He that dasheth in pieces is come up before thy face:
keep the munition, watch the way, make thy loins strong, fortify thy power
mightily.
2:2 For the LORD hath turned away the excellency of Jacob,
as the excellency of Israel: for the emptiers have emptied them out, and
marred their vine branches.
2:3 The shield of his mighty men is made red, the valiant
men are in scarlet: the chariots shall be with flaming torches in the day
of his preparation, and the fir trees shall be terribly shaken.
2:4 The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall
justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches,
they shall run like the lightnings.
2:5 He shall recount his worthies: they shall stumble
in their walk; they shall make haste to the wall thereof, and the defence
shall be prepared.
2:6 The gates of the rivers shall be opened, and the
palace shall be dissolved.
2:7 And Huzzab shall be led away captive, she shall be
brought up, and her maids shall lead her as with the voice of doves, tabering
upon their breasts.
2:8 But Nineveh is of old like a pool of water: yet they
shall flee away. Stand, stand, shall they cry; but none shall look back.
2:9 Take ye the spoil of silver, take the spoil of gold:
for there is none end of the store and glory out of all the pleasant furniture.
2:10 She is empty, and void, and waste: and the heart
melteth, and the knees smite together, and much pain is in all loins, and
the faces of them all gather blackness.
2:11 Where is the dwelling of the lions, and the feedingplace
of the young lions, where the lion, even the old lion, walked, and the
lion's whelp, and none made them afraid?
2:12 The lion did tear in pieces enough for his whelps,
and strangled for his lionesses, and filled his holes with prey, and his
dens with ravin.
2:13 Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts,
and I will burn her chariots in the smoke, and the sword shall devour thy
young lions: and I will cut off thy prey from the earth, and the voice
of thy messengers shall no more be heard.
3:1 Woe to the bloody city! it is all full of lies and
robbery; the prey departeth not;
3:2 The noise of a whip, and the noise of the rattling
of the wheels, and of the pransing horses, and of the jumping chariots.
3:3 The horseman lifteth up both the bright sword and
the glittering spear: and there is a multitude of slain, and a great number
of carcases; and there is none end of their corpses; they stumble upon
their corpses:
3:4 Because of the multitude of the whoredoms of the
wellfavoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts, that selleth nations
through her whoredoms, and families through her witchcrafts.
3:5 Behold, I am against thee, saith the LORD of hosts;
and I will discover thy skirts upon thy face, and I will shew the nations
thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy shame.
3:6 And I will cast abominable filth upon thee, and make
thee vile, and will set thee as a gazingstock.
3:7 And it shall come to pass, that all they that look
upon thee shall flee from thee, and say, Nineveh is laid waste: who will
bemoan her? whence shall I seek comforters for thee?
3:8 Art thou better than populous No, that was situate
among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was
the sea, and her wall was from the sea?
3:9 Ethiopia and Egypt were her strength, and it was
infinite; Put and Lubim were thy helpers.
3:10 Yet was she carried away, she went into captivity:
her young children also were dashed in pieces at the top of all the streets:
and they cast lots for her honourable men, and all her great men were bound
in chains.
3:11 Thou also shalt be drunken: thou shalt be hid, thou
also shalt seek strength because of the enemy.
3:12 All thy strong holds shall be like fig trees with
the firstripe figs: if they be shaken, they shall even fall into the mouth
of the eater.
3:13 Behold, thy people in the midst of thee are women:
the gates of thy land shall be set wide open unto thine enemies: the fire
shall devour thy bars.
3:14 Draw thee waters for the siege, fortify thy strong
holds: go into clay, and tread the morter, make strong the brickkiln.
3:15 There shall the fire devour thee; the sword shall
cut thee off, it shall eat thee up like the cankerworm: make thyself many
as the cankerworm, make thyself many as the locusts.
3:16 Thou hast multiplied thy merchants above the stars
of heaven: the cankerworm spoileth, and fleeth away.
3:17 Thy crowned are as the locusts, and thy captains
as the great grasshoppers, which camp in the hedges in the cold day, but
when the sun ariseth they flee away, and their place is not known where
they are.
3:18 Thy shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria: thy nobles
shall dwell in the dust: thy people is scattered upon the mountains, and
no man gathereth them.
3:19 There is no healing of thy bruise; thy wound is
grievous: all that hear the bruit of thee shall clap the hands over thee:
for upon whom hath not thy wickedness passed continually?