This is the word of the LORD, that came to Micah the Morasthite, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah: which was showed him upon Samaria and Jerusalem.

Hear all ye people, mark this well, O earth, and all that therein is: Yea, the LORD God himself be witness among you, even the Lord from his holy temple.

Thou that dwellest at Shaphir, get thee hence with shame. The proud shall boost no more for very sorrow. And why? Her neighbour shall take from her what she hath.

The rebellious city hopeth that it shall not be so evil: but for all that, the plague shall come from the LORD, even in to the port of Jerusalem.

The great noise of the chariots shall fear them that dwell at Lachish, which is an occasion of the sin of the daughter of Zion, for in thee came up the wickedness of Israel.

And as for thee, O thou that dwellest at Mareshah, I shall bring a possession upon thee, and the plague of Israel shall reach unto Adullam.

Woe unto them that imagine to do harm, and devise ungraciousness upon their beds, to perform it in the clear day: for their power is against God.

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?"

sayeth the house of Jacob. Is the spirit of the LORD so clean away? Or is he so minded? Truth it is, my words are friendly unto them that live right:

If I were a fleshly fellow, and a preacher of lies, and told them that they might sit bibbing and bolling, and be drunken: O that were a Prophet for this people!

But I will gather thee indeed, O Jacob, and drive the remnant of Israel all together. I shall carry them one with another, as a flock in the fold, and as the cattle in their stalls, that they may be disquieted of other men.

Now the time shall come, that when they call unto the LORD, he shall not hear them, but hide his face from them, because that through their own Imaginations they have dealt so wickedly.

And as concerning the prophets that deceive my people, thus the LORD sayeth against them: When they have any thing to bite upon, then they preach that all shall be well. But if a man put not some thing in to their mouths, they preach of war against him.

O hear this, ye rulers of the house of Jacob, and ye judges of the house of Israel: ye that abhor the thing that is lawful, and wrest aside the thing that is straight;

Ye that build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with doing wrong.

O ye judges, ye give sentence for gifts; O ye priests, ye teach for lucre; O ye prophets, ye prophesy for money. Yet will they be taken as those that hold upon God, and say, "Is not the LORD among us? Tush, there can no misfortune happen us."

But in the latter days it will come to pass, that the hill of the LORD's house shall be set up higher than any mountains or hills: Yea, the people shall flow unto it,

and the multitude of the Gentiles shall haste them thither, saying, "Come, let us go up to the hill of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob: that he may teach us his way, and that we may walk in his paths." For the law shall come out of Zion, and the word of God from Jerusalem;

And shall give sentence among the multitude of the Heathen and reform the people of far countries: so that of their swords they shall make plowshares, and scythes of their spears. One people shall not lift up a sword against another, yea they shall no more learn to fight.

Why then art thou now so heavy? Is there no king in thee? Are thy counselors away that thou art so pained, as a woman in her travail?

Now also are there many people gathered together against thee, saying that Zion is cursed: "We shall see our lust upon her."

But they know not the thoughts of the LORD; they understand not his counsel, that shall gather them together as the sheaves in the barn.

Therefore get thee up, O thou daughter Zion, and thresh out the corn. For I will make thy horn iron. and thy claws brass, that thou mayest grind many people: their goods shalt thou appropriate unto the LORD, and their substance unto the ruler of the whole world.

After that shalt thou be robbed thyself, O thou robber's daughter: they shall lay siege against us, and smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.

In the meanwhile he plagueth them for a season, until the time that she which shall bear have born: then shall the remnant of his brethren be converted unto the children of Israel.

Then shall there be peace, so that the Assyrian may come into our land, and tread in our houses. We shall bring up seven shepherds and eight princes upon them:

And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the multitude of people, as the dew of the LORD, and as the drops upon the grass, that tarrieth for no man, and waiteth of nobody.

Yea, the residue of Jacob shall be among the gentiles and the multitude of people, as the lion among the beasts of the wood, and as the Lion's whelps among a flock of sheep: which, when he goeth through, treadeth down, teareth in pieces, and there is no man that can help.

The time shall come also, sayeth the LORD, that I will take thine horses from thee, and destroy thy chariots.

Thine Idols and thine Images will I destroy out of thee so that thou shalt no more bow thyself unto the works of thine own hands.

Thus will I be avenged also, upon all the Heathen that will not hear.

Remember, O my people, what Balak the king of Moab had imagined against thee, and what answer that Balaam the son of Beor gave him, from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the loving-kindness of the LORD.

The LORD's voice crieth unto the city, and the man that shall be saved considereth thy name, O LORD. Hear and that thy name may be righteousness. Hear, O ye tribes: who would else give you such warning?

among those that be full of riches unrighteously gotten: where the citizens deal with falsity, speak lies, and have deceitful tongues in their mouths?

Thou salt eat, and not have enough: yea, thou shalt bring thyself down. Thou shalt flee, but not escape: and those that thou wouldest save, will I deliver to the sword.

Woe is me! I am become as one that goeth a gleaning in the harvest. There are no more grapes to eat, yet would I fain, with all my heart, have of the best fruit.

yet they say they do well when they do evil. As the prince will, so sayeth the judge: that he may do him a pleasure again. The great man speaketh what his heart desireth; and the hearers allow him.

The best of them is but as a thistle, and the most righteous of them is but as a brier in the hedge. But when the day of thy preachers cometh, that thou shalt be visited: then shall they be wasted away.

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:

I will bear the punishment of the LORD - For why? I have offended him - till he sit in judgment upon my cause, and see that I have right. He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall see his righteousness.

She that is mine enemy shall look upon it, and be confounded, which now sayeth, "Where is thy LORD God?" Mine eyes shall behold her, when she shall be trodden down, as the clay in the streets.

The time will come, that thy gaps shall be made up, and the law shall go abroad:

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.

Notwithstanding, the land must be wasted, because of them that dwell therein, and for the fruits of their own Imaginations.

Therefore feed thy people with thy rod; the flock of thine heritage which dwell desolate in the wood: that they may be fed upon the mount of Carmel, Bashan and Gilead as afore time.

This shall the Heathen see, and be ashamed for all their power: so that they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, and stop their ears.

They shall lick the dust like a serpent, as the worms of the earth, that tremble in their holes. They shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and they shall fear thee.

Where is there such a God as thou? That pardonest wickedness, and forgivest the offenses of the remnant of thine heritage? He keepeth not his wrath for ever. And why? His delight is to have compassion.