Micah 5-7

English Standard Version

The Ruler to Be Born in Bethlehem

5 ^[a] Now muster your troops, O daughter^[b] of troops;
    siege is laid against us;
with a rod ^(A)they strike the judge of Israel
    on the cheek.
²^[c] ^(B)But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    who are too little to be among the clans of ^(C)Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
    one who is to be ^(D)ruler in Israel,
^(E)whose coming forth is ^(F)from of old,
    from ancient days.
³Therefore he shall give them up ^(G)until the time
    when she who is in labor has given birth;
then ^(H)the rest of his brothers shall return
    to the people of Israel.
⁴And he shall stand ^(I)and shepherd his flock ^(J)in the strength of the Lord,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now ^(K)he shall be great
    to the ends of the earth.
⁵And he shall be ^(L)their peace.

^(M)When the Assyrian comes into our land
    and treads in our palaces,
then we will raise against him seven ^(N)shepherds
    and eight princes of men;
⁶they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
    and the land of ^(O)Nimrod at its entrances;
and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian
    ^(P)when he comes into our land
    and treads within our border.

A Remnant Shall Be Delivered

⁷Then ^(Q)the remnant of Jacob shall be
    in the midst of many peoples
like dew from the Lord,
    like showers on the grass,
which delay not for a man
    nor wait for the children of man.
⁸And ^(R)the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations,
    in the midst of many peoples,
like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
    like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,
^(S)which, when it goes through, treads down
    and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver.
⁹Your hand shall ^(T)be lifted up over your adversaries,
    and all your enemies shall be cut off.

¹⁰And ^(U)in that day, declares the Lord,
    ^(V)I will cut off your horses from among you
    and will destroy your chariots;
¹¹^(W)and I will cut off the cities of your land
    and throw down all your strongholds;
¹²and I will cut off ^(X)sorceries from your hand,
    and ^(Y)you shall have no more tellers of fortunes;
¹³and ^(Z)I will cut off your carved images
    and ^(AA)your pillars from among you,
^(AB)and you shall bow down no more
    to the work of your hands;
¹⁴and I will root out your ^(AC)Asherah images from among you
    ^(AD)and destroy your cities.
¹⁵And in anger and wrath ^(AE)I will execute vengeance
    on the nations that did not obey.

The Indictment of the Lord

6 ^(AF)Hear what the Lord says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
    and let the hills hear your voice.
²^(AG)Hear, you mountains, ^(AH)the indictment of the Lord,
    and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment against his people,
    and he will contend with Israel.

³“O my people, ^(AI)what have I done to you?
    ^(AJ)How have I wearied you? Answer me!
⁴For ^(AK)I brought you up from the land of Egypt
    and ^(AL)redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
    Aaron, and ^(AM)Miriam.
⁵O my people, remember ^(AN)what Balak king of Moab devised,
    and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from ^(AO)Shittim to Gilgal,
    that you may know ^(AP)the righteous acts of the Lord.”

What Does the Lord Require?

⁶^(AQ)“With what shall I come before the Lord,
    and bow myself before ^(AR)God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
⁷^(AS)Will the Lord be pleased with^[d] thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
^(AT)Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
⁸He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and ^(AU)what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,^[e]
    and to ^(AV)walk humbly with your God?

Destruction of the Wicked

⁹The voice of the Lord cries to the city—
    and it is sound wisdom to fear ^(AW)your name:
“Hear of ^(AX)the rod and of him who appointed it!^[f]
¹⁰    Can I forget any longer the treasures^[g] of wickedness in the house of the wicked,
    and the scant measure that is accursed?
¹¹Shall I acquit the man ^(AY)with wicked scales
    and with a bag of deceitful weights?
¹²Your^[h] rich men are ^(AZ)full of violence;
    your inhabitants ^(BA)speak lies,
    and ^(BB)their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
¹³Therefore I strike you with a grievous blow,
    ^(BC)making you desolate because of your sins.
¹⁴^(BD)You shall eat, but not be satisfied,
    and there shall be hunger within you;
you shall put away, but not preserve,
    and what you preserve I will give to the sword.
¹⁵^(BE)You shall sow, but not reap;
    you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
    you shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.
¹⁶For you have kept the statutes of ^(BF)Omri,^[i]
    and all the works of the house of ^(BG)Ahab;
    and you have walked in their counsels,
that I may make you ^(BH)a desolation, and your^[j] inhabitants ^(BI)a hissing;
    so you shall bear ^(BJ)the scorn of my people.”

Wait for the God of Salvation

7 Woe is me! For I have become
    ^(BK)as when the summer fruit has been gathered,
    as when the grapes have been gleaned:
there is no cluster to eat,
    no ^(BL)first-ripe fig that my soul desires.
²^(BM)The godly has perished from the earth,
    and ^(BN)there is no one upright among mankind;
^(BO)they all lie in wait for blood,
    and ^(BP)each hunts the other with a net.
³^(BQ)Their hands are on what is evil, to do it well;
    ^(BR)the prince and ^(BS)the judge ask for a bribe,
and the great man utters the evil desire of his soul;
    thus they weave it together.
⁴The best of them is ^(BT)like a brier,
    the most upright of them a thorn hedge.
The day of ^(BU)your watchmen, of your punishment, has come;
    ^(BV)now their confusion is at hand.
⁵^(BW)Put no trust in a neighbor;
    have no confidence in a friend;
guard ^(BX)the doors of your mouth
    from her who lies in your arms;^[k]
⁶for ^(BY)the son treats the father with contempt,
    the daughter rises up against her mother,
the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
    ^(BZ)a man's enemies are the men of his own house.
⁷But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
    ^(CA)I will wait for the God of my salvation;
    my God will hear me.

⁸^(CB)Rejoice not over me, O ^(CC)my enemy;
    ^(CD)when I fall, I shall rise;
^(CE)when I sit in darkness,
    the Lord will be a light to me.
⁹^(CF)I will bear the indignation of the Lord
    because I have sinned against him,
until ^(CG)he pleads my cause
    and executes judgment for me.
^(CH)He will bring me out to the light;
    I shall look upon his vindication.
¹⁰Then ^(CI)my enemy will see,
    and shame will cover her who ^(CJ)said to me,
    “Where is the Lord your God?”
^(CK)My eyes will look upon her;
    now she will be trampled down
    ^(CL)like the mire of the streets.

¹¹^(CM)A day for the building of your walls!
    In that day the boundary shall be far extended.
¹²In that day they^[l] will come to you,
    ^(CN)from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
and from Egypt to ^(CO)the River,^[m]
    ^(CP)from sea to sea and from mountain to mountain.
¹³But ^(CQ)the earth will be desolate
    because of its inhabitants,
    for the fruit of their deeds.

¹⁴^(CR)Shepherd your people ^(CS)with your staff,
    the flock of your inheritance,
who dwell alone in a forest
    ^(CT)in the midst of ^(CU)a garden land;^[n]
let them graze in Bashan and Gilead
    as in the days of old.
¹⁵^(CV)As in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
    I will show them^[o] marvelous things.
¹⁶^(CW)The nations shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
^(CX)they shall lay their hands on their mouths;
    their ears shall be deaf;
¹⁷^(CY)they shall lick the dust like a serpent,
    like the crawling things of the earth;
^(CZ)they shall come trembling out of their strongholds;
    ^(DA)they shall turn in dread to the Lord our God,
    and they shall be in fear of you.

God's Steadfast Love and Compassion

¹⁸^(DB)Who is a God like you, ^(DC)pardoning iniquity
    and passing over transgression
    ^(DD)for the remnant of his inheritance?
^(DE)He does not retain his anger forever,
    because he delights in steadfast love.
¹⁹He will ^(DF)again have compassion on us;
    ^(DG)he will tread our iniquities underfoot.
^(DH)You will cast all our^[p] sins
    into the depths of the sea.
²⁰^(DI)You will show faithfulness to Jacob
    and steadfast love to Abraham,
^(DJ)as you have sworn to our fathers
    from the days of old.