God’s Indictment of His People

1Hear now what the LORD is saying,
“Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
And let the hills hear your voice.2
“Listen, you mountains, to the indictment of the LORD,
And you enduring foundations of the earth,
Because the LORD has a case against His people;
Even with Israel He will dispute.3
“My people, what have I done to you,
And how have I wearied you? Answer Me.4
“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.5
“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 the LORD.

What God Requires of Man

6
With what shall I come to the LORD
{And} bow myself before the God on high?
Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings,
With yearling calves?7
Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams,
In ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I present my firstborn {for} my rebellious acts,
The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?8
He has told you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But to do justice, to love kindness,
And to walk humbly with your God?

9
The voice of the LORD will call to the city–
And it is sound wisdom to fear Your name:
“Hear, O tribe. Who has appointed its time?10
“Is there yet a man in the wicked house,
{Along with} treasures of wickedness
And a short measure {that is} cursed?11
“Can I justify wicked scales
And a bag of deceptive weights?12
“For the rich men of {the} city are full of violence,
Her residents speak lies,
And their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.13
“So also I will make {you} sick, striking you down,
Desolating {you} because of your sins.14
“You will eat, but you will not be satisfied,
And your vileness will be in your midst.
You will {try to} remove {for safekeeping,}
But you will not preserve {anything,}
And what you do preserve I will give to the sword.15
“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.16
“The statutes of Omri
And all the works of the house of Ahab are observed;
And in their devices you walk.
Therefore I will give you up for destruction
And your inhabitants for derision,
And you will bear the reproach of My people.

Birth of the King in Bethlehem

1“Now muster yourselves in troops, daughter of troops;
They have laid siege against us;
With a rod they will smite the judge of Israel on the cheek.2
“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 long ago,
From the days of eternity.3
Therefore He will give them {up} until the time
When she who is in labor has borne a child.
Then the remainder of His brethren
Will return to the sons of Israel.4
And He will arise and shepherd {His flock}
In the strength of the LORD,
In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God.
And they will remain,
Because at that time He will be great
To the ends of the earth.5
This One will be {our} peace.
When the Assyrian invades our land,
When he tramples on our citadels,
Then we will raise against him
Seven shepherds and eight leaders of men.6
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 attacks our land
And when he tramples our territory.

7
Then the remnant of Jacob
Will be among many peoples
Like dew from the LORD,
Like showers on vegetation
Which do not wait for man
Or delay for the sons of men.8
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 he passes through,
Tramples down and tears,
And there is none to rescue.9
Your hand will be lifted up against your adversaries,
And all your enemies will be cut off.

10
“It will be in that day, declares the LORD,
“That I will cut off your horses from among you
And destroy your chariots.11
“I will also cut off the cities of your land
And tear down all your fortifications.12
“I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
And you will have fortune-tellers no more.13
“I will cut off your carved images
And your {sacred} pillars from among you,
So that you will no longer bow down
To the work of your hands.14
“I will root out your Asherim from among you
And destroy your cities.15
“And I will execute vengeance in anger and wrath
On the nations which have not obeyed.

Peaceful Latter Days

1
And it will come about in the last days
That the mountain of the house of the LORD
Will be established as the chief of the mountains.
It will be raised above the hills,
And the peoples will stream to it.2
Many nations will come and say,
“Come and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD
And to the house of the God of Jacob,
That He may teach us about His ways
And that we may walk in His paths.
For from Zion will go forth the law,
Even the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.3
And He will judge between many peoples
And render decisions for mighty, distant nations.
Then 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 train for war.4
Each of them will sit under his vine
And under his fig tree,
With no one to make {them} afraid,
For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.5
Though all the peoples walk
Each in the name of his god,
As for us, we will walk
In the name of the LORD our God forever and ever.

6
“In that day, declares the LORD,
“I will assemble the lame
And gather the outcasts,
Even those whom I have afflicted.7
“I will make the lame a remnant
And the outcasts a strong nation,
And the LORD will reign over them in Mount Zion
From now on and forever.8
“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.

9
“Now, why do you cry out loudly?
Is there no king among you,
Or has your counselor perished,
That agony has gripped you like a woman in childbirth?10
“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 rescued;
There the LORD will redeem you
From the hand of your enemies.11
“And now many nations have been assembled against you
Who say, `Let her be polluted,
And let our eyes gloat over Zion.’12
“But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD,
And they do not understand His purpose;
For He has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.13
“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 the LORD their unjust gain
And their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

Rulers Denounced

1 And I said,
“Hear now, heads of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel.
Is it not for you to know justice?2
“You who hate good and love evil,
Who tear off their skin from them
And their flesh from their bones,3
Who eat the flesh of my people,
Strip off their skin from them,
Break their bones
And chop {them} up as for the pot
And as meat in a kettle.4
Then they will cry out to the LORD,
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 the LORD concerning the prophets who lead my people astray;
When they have {something} to bite with their teeth,
They cry, “Peace,
But against him who puts nothing in their mouths
They declare holy war.6
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 become dark over them.7
The seers will be ashamed
And the diviners will be embarrassed.
Indeed, they will all cover {their} mouths
Because there is no answer from God.8
On the other hand I am filled with power–
With the Spirit of the LORD–
And with justice and courage
To make known to Jacob his rebellious act,
Even to Israel his sin.9
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,10
Who build Zion with bloodshed
And Jerusalem with violent injustice.11
Her leaders pronounce judgment for a bribe,
Her priests instruct for a price
And her prophets divine for money.
Yet they lean on the LORD saying,
“Is not the LORD in our midst?
Calamity will not come upon us.12
Therefore, on account of you
Zion will be plowed as a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
And the mountain of the temple {will become} high places of a forest.

Woe to Oppressors

1
Woe to those who scheme iniquity,
Who work out evil on their beds!
When morning comes, they do it,
For it is in the power of their hands.2
They covet fields and then seize {them,}
And houses, and take {them} away.
They rob a man and his house,
A man and his inheritance.

3 Therefore thus says the LORD,
“Behold, I am planning against this family a calamity
From which you cannot remove your necks;
And you will not walk haughtily,
For it will be an evil time.4
“On that day they will take up against you a taunt
And utter a bitter lamentation {and} say,
`We are completely destroyed!
He exchanges the portion of my people;
How He removes it from me!
To the apostate He apportions our fields.’5
“Therefore you will have no one stretching a measuring line
For you by lot in the assembly of the LORD.

6
`Do not speak out,’ {so} they speak out.
{But if} they do not speak out concerning these things,
Reproaches will not be turned back.7
“Is it being said, O house of Jacob:
`Is the Spirit of the LORD impatient?
Are these His doings?’
Do not My words do good
To the one walking uprightly?8
“Recently My people have arisen as an enemy–
You strip the robe off the garment
From unsuspecting passers-by,
{From} those returned from war.9
“The women of My people you evict,
Each {one} from her pleasant house.
From her children you take My splendor forever.10
“Arise and go,
For this is no place of rest
Because of the uncleanness that brings on destruction,
A painful destruction.11
“If a man walking after wind and falsehood
Had told lies {and said,}
`I will speak out to you concerning wine and liquor,’
He would be spokesman to this people.

12
“I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob,
I will surely gather the remnant of Israel.
I will put them together like sheep in the fold;
Like a flock in the midst of its pasture
They will be noisy with men.13
“The breaker goes up before them;
They break out, pass through the gate and go out by it.
So their king goes on before them,
And the LORD at their head.

Destruction in Israel and Judah

1 The word of the LORD which came {to} Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz {and} Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.2
Hear, O peoples, all of you;
Listen, O earth and all it contains,
And let the Lord GOD be a witness against you,
The Lord from His holy temple.3
For behold, the LORD is coming forth from His place.
He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.4
The mountains will melt under Him
And the valleys will be split,
Like wax before the fire,
Like water poured down a steep place.5
All this is for the rebellion of Jacob
And for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the rebellion of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
What is the high place of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem?6
For I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the open country,
Planting places for a vineyard.
I will pour her stones down into the valley
And will lay bare her foundations.7
All of her idols will be smashed,
All of her earnings will be burned with fire
And all of her images I will make desolate,
For she collected {them} from a harlot’s earnings,
And to the earnings of a harlot they will return.

8
Because of this I must lament and wail,
I must go barefoot and naked;
I must make a lament like the jackals
And a mourning like the ostriches.9
For her wound is incurable,
For it has come to Judah;
It has reached the gate of my people,
{Even} to Jerusalem.10
Tell it not in Gath,
Weep not at all.
At Beth-le-aphrah roll yourself in the dust.11
Go on your way, inhabitant of Shaphir, in shameful nakedness.
The inhabitant of Zaanan does not escape.
The lamentation of Beth-ezel: “He will take from you its support.12
For the inhabitant of Maroth
Becomes weak waiting for good,
Because a calamity has come down from the LORD
To the gate of Jerusalem.13
Harness the chariot to the team of horses,
O inhabitant of Lachish–
She was the beginning of sin
To the daughter of Zion–
Because in you were found
The rebellious acts of Israel.14
Therefore you will give parting gifts
On behalf of Moresheth-gath;
The houses of Achzib {will} become a deception
To the kings of Israel.15
Moreover, I will bring on you
The one who takes possession,
O inhabitant of Mareshah.
The glory of Israel will enter Adullam.16
Make yourself bald and cut off your hair,
Because of the children of your delight;
Extend your baldness like the eagle,
For they will go from you into exile.

Jonah’s Displeasure Rebuked

1 But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry.2 He prayed to the LORD and said, “Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my {own} country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.3 “Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life.4 The LORD said, “Do you have good reason to be angry?

5 Then Jonah went out from the city and sat east of it. There he made a shelter for himself and sat under it in the shade until he could see what would happen in the city.6 So the LORD God appointed a plant and it grew up over Jonah to be a shade over his head to deliver him from his discomfort. And Jonah was extremely happy about the plant.7 But God appointed a worm when dawn came the next day and it attacked the plant and it withered.8 When the sun came up God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he became faint and begged with {all} his soul to die, saying, “Death is better to me than life.

9 Then God said to Jonah, “Do you have good reason to be angry about the plant? And he said, “I have good reason to be angry, even to death.10 Then the LORD said, “You had compassion on the plant for which you did not work and {which} you did not cause to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight.11 “Should I not have compassion on Nineveh, the great city in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know {the difference} between their right and left hand, as well as many animals?

Nineveh Repents

1 Now the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying,2 “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation which I am going to tell you.3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days’ walk.4 Then Jonah began to go through the city one day’s walk; and he cried out and said, “Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown.

5 Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.6 When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered {himself} with sackcloth and sat on the ashes.7 He issued a proclamation and it said, “In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water.8 “But both man and beast must be covered with sackcloth; and let men call on God earnestly that each may turn from his wicked way and from the violence which is in his hands.9 “Who knows, God may turn and relent and withdraw His burning anger so that we will not perish.

10 When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do {it.}

Jonah’s Prayer

1 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the stomach of the fish,2 and he said,
“I called out of my distress to the LORD,
And He answered me.
I cried for help from the depth of Sheol;
You heard my voice.3
“For You had cast me into the deep,
Into the heart of the seas,
And the current engulfed me.
All Your breakers and billows passed over me.4
“So I said, `I have been expelled from Your sight.
Nevertheless I will look again toward Your holy temple.’5
“Water encompassed me to the point of death.
The great deep engulfed me,
Weeds were wrapped around my head.6
“I descended to the roots of the mountains.
The earth with its bars {was} around me forever,
But You have brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God.7
“While I was fainting away,
I remembered the LORD,
And my prayer came to You,
Into Your holy temple.8
“Those who regard vain idols
Forsake their faithfulness,9
But I will sacrifice to You
With the voice of thanksgiving.
That which I have vowed I will pay.
Salvation is from the LORD.

10 Then the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah up onto the dry land.

Jonah’s Disobedience

1 The word of the LORD came to Jonah the son of Amittai saying,2 “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it, for their wickedness has come up before Me.3 But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD. So he went down to Joppa, found a ship which was going to Tarshish, paid the fare and went down into it to go with them to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.

4 The LORD hurled a great wind on the sea and there was a great storm on the sea so that the ship was about to break up.5 Then the sailors became afraid and every man cried to his god, and they threw the cargo which was in the ship into the sea to lighten {it} for them. But Jonah had gone below into the hold of the ship, lain down and fallen sound asleep.6 So the captain approached him and said, “How is it that you are sleeping? Get up, call on your god. Perhaps {your} god will be concerned about us so that we will not perish.

7 Each man said to his mate, “Come, let us cast lots so we may learn on whose account this calamity {has struck} us. So they cast lots and the lot fell on Jonah.8 Then they said to him, “Tell us, now! On whose account {has} this calamity {struck} us? What is your occupation? And where do you come from? What is your country? From what people are you?9 He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I fear the LORD God of heaven who made the sea and the dry land.

10 Then the men became extremely frightened and they said to him, “How could you do this? For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.11 So they said to him, “What should we do to you that the sea may become calm for us?–for the sea was becoming increasingly stormy.12 He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea. Then the sea will become calm for you, for I know that on account of me this great storm {has come} upon you.13 However, the men rowed {desperately} to return to land but they could not, for the sea was becoming {even} stormier against them.14 Then they called on the LORD and said, “We earnestly pray, O LORD, do not let us perish on account of this man’s life and do not put innocent blood on us; for You, O LORD, have done as You have pleased.

15 So they picked up Jonah, threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped its raging.16 Then the men feared the LORD greatly, and they offered a sacrifice to the LORD and made vows.

17 And the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.