This message from the LORD came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of the Judean kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah concerning the vision he saw about Samaria and Jerusalem:

Hear, O peoples, all of them! Attend, O earth, and its fulness, And the Lord Jehovah is against you for a witness, The Lord from His holy temple.

For lo, Jehovah is going out from His place, And He hath come down, And hath trodden on high places of earth.

Melted have been the mountains under Him, And the valleys do rend themselves, As wax from the presence of fire, As waters cast down by a slope.

For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. Whence is the transgression of Jacob? is it not from Samaria? And whence are the high places of Judah? are they not from Jerusalem?

And all her graven images are beaten down, And all her gifts are burnt with fire, And all her idols I make a desolation, For, from the hire of a harlot she gathered, and unto the hire of a harlot they return.

Pass over for thee, O inhabitant of Shaphir, Naked one of shame. Not gone out hath the inhabitant of Zaanan, The lamentation of Beth-Ezel doth take from you its standing.

For stayed for good hath the inhabitant of Maroth, For evil hath come down from Jehovah to the gate of Jerusalem.

Make bald and shave, for thy delightful sons, Enlarge thy baldness as an eagle, For they have removed from thee!

Therefore, thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am devising against this family evil, From which ye do not remove your necks, Nor walk loftily, for a time of evil it is.

In that day shall this term be used, and a mourning shall be made over you on this manner, "We be utterly desolate, the portion of my people is translated. When will he part unto us the land, that he hath taken from us?"

And yesterday My people for an enemy doth raise himself up, From the outer garment the honourable ornament ye strip off, From the confident passers by, Ye who are turning back from war.

The women of My people ye cast out from its delightful house, From its sucklings ye take away My honour to the age.

I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob; I will surely gather together the remainder of Israel. I will set them like sheep of Bozrah. Like a herd in the midst of their pasture they will be in tumult from people.

Ye who are hating good, and loving evil, Taking violently their skin from off them, And their flesh from off their bones,

And who have eaten the flesh of My people, And their skin from off them have stript, And their bones they have broken, And they have spread them out as in a pot, And as flesh in the midst of a caldron.

Then do they cry unto Jehovah, And He doth not answer them, And hideth His face from them at that time, As they have made evil their doings.

This is what the Lord has said about the prophets by whom my people have been turned from the right way; who, biting with their teeth, say, Peace; and if anyone puts nothing in their mouths they make ready for war against him.

For this, night to you from a vision, and darkness to you from divining; and the sun went down upon the prophets, and the day was dark upon them.

And the seers shall be put to shame, and the diviners confounded. Yea, they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answer from God.

And gone have many nations and said, Come and we go up to the mount of Jehovah, And unto the house of the God of Jacob, And He doth teach us of His ways, And we do walk in His paths, For from Zion doth go forth a law, And a word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.

And I have set the halting for a remnant, And the far-off for a mighty nation, And reigned hath Jehovah over them in mount Zion, From henceforth, and unto the age.

Be pained, and bring forth, O daughter of Zion, As a travailing woman, For now, thou goest forth from the city, And thou hast dwelt in the field, And thou hast gone unto Babylon, There thou art delivered, There redeem thee doth Jehovah from the hand of thine enemies.

"Get up and thresh, Daughter Zion! For I will give you iron horns; I will give you bronze hooves, and you will crush many nations." You will devote to the Lord the spoils you take from them, and dedicate their wealth to the sovereign Ruler of the whole earth.

And thou, Beth-Lehem Ephratah, Little to be among the chiefs of Judah! From thee to Me he cometh forth -- to be ruler in Israel, And his comings forth are of old, From the days of antiquity.

"Then he will take his stand, shepherding by means of the strength of the LORD, by the power of the name of the LORD his God. And they will be firmly established; indeed, from then on he will become great to the ends of the earth.

And this One shall be peace. When Assyria shall come into our land; and when he shall walk in our palaces, then we shall raise against him seven shepherds and eight anointed ones from men.

And they have afflicted the land of Asshur with the sword, And the land of Nimrod at its openings, And he hath delivered from Asshur when he doth come into our land, And when he treadeth in our borders.

And the remnant of Jacob hath been in the midst of many peoples, As dew from Jehovah -- as showers on the herb, That waiteth not for man, nor stayeth for the sons of men.

Those survivors from Jacob will live among the nations, in the midst of many peoples. They will be like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which attacks when it passes through; it rips its prey and there is no one to stop it.

And it hath come to pass in that day, An affirmation of Jehovah, I have cut off thy horses from thy midst, And I have destroyed thy chariots,

I will remove sorceries from your hands,
and you will not have any more fortune-tellers.

And I will have your images and your pillars cut off from you; and you will no longer give worship to the work of your hands.

I will have your Asherahs pulled up from among you: and I will send destruction on your images.

For I brought thee up from the land of Egypt, And from the house of servants I have ransomed thee, And I send before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

O My people, remember, I pray you, What counsel did Balak king of Moab, What answer him did Balaam son of Beor, (From Shittim unto Gilgal,) In order to know the righteous acts of Jehovah.'

He has made clear to you, O man, what is good; and what is desired from you by the Lord; only doing what is right, and loving mercy, and walking without pride before your God.

You will plant crops, but will not harvest them; you will squeeze oil from the olives, but you will have no oil to rub on your bodies; you will squeeze juice from the grapes, but you will have no wine to drink.

The good man hath perished from 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.

Let no man believe his friend, nor put his confidence in a prince. Keep the door of thy mouth, from her that lieth in thy bosom:

and at that time shall they come unto thee, from Assyria unto the strong cities, and from the strong cities unto the river: from the one sea to the other, from the one mountain to the other.

And the land was for a desolation upon its inhabitants from the fruit of their doings.

According to the days of thy departure from the land of Egypt will I show to him marvelous things.

The nations shall see and be ashamed from all their strength: they shall put the hand upon the mouth, their ears shall be deaf.

They lick dust as a serpent, as fearful things of earth, They tremble from their enclosures, Of Jehovah our God they are afraid, Yea, they are afraid of Thee.

Thou givest truth to Jacob, kindness to Abraham, That thou hast sworn to our fathers, from the days of antiquity!