The MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV
Page 427
Micah 2
Woe to Evildoers
1Woe to those who devise iniquity,
And 1work out evil on their beds!
At amorning light they practice it,
Because it is in the power of their hand.
2They bcovet fields and take them by violence,
Also houses, and seize them.
So they oppress a man and his house,
A man and his inheritance.
3Therefore thus says the LORD:
“Behold, against this cfamily I am devising ddisaster,
From which you cannot remove your necks;
Nor shall you walk haughtily,
For this is an evil time.
4In that day one shall take up a proverb against you,
And elament with a bitter lamentation, saying:
‘We are utterly destroyed!
He has changed the 2heritage of my people;
How He has removed it from me!
To 3a turncoat He has divided our fields.’ ”
5Therefore you will have no 4one to determine boundaries by lot
In the assembly of the LORD.
Lying Prophets
6“Do not prattle,” you say to those who 5prophesy.
So they shall not prophesy 6to you;
7 They shall not return insult for insult.
7You who are named the house of Jacob:
“Is the Spirit of the LORD restricted?
Are these His doings?
Do not My words do good
To him who walks uprightly?
8“Lately My people have risen up as an enemy—
You pull off the robe with the garment
From those who trust you, as they pass by,
Like men returned from war.
9The women of My people you cast out
From their pleasant houses;
From their children
You have taken away My glory forever.
10“Arise and depart,
For this is not your frest;
Because it is gdefiled, it shall destroy,
Yes, with utter destruction.
11If a man should walk in a false spirit
And speak a lie, saying,
‘I will 8prophesy to you 9of wine and drink,’
Even he would be the hprattler of this people.
Israel Restored
12“Ii will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob,
I will surely gather the remnant of Israel;
I will put them together jlike sheep of 10the fold,
Like a flock in the midst of their pasture;
k They shall make a loud noise because of so many people.
13The one who breaks open will come up before them;
They will break out,
Pass through the gate,
And go out by it;
l Their king will pass before them,
m With the LORD at their head.”
Micah 3
Wicked Rulers and Prophets
1And I said:
“Hear now, O heads of Jacob,
And you arulers of the house of Israel:
b Is it not for you to know justice?
2You who hate good and love evil;
Who strip the skin from 1My people,
And the flesh from their bones;
3Who also ceat the flesh of My people,
Flay their skin from them,
Break their bones,
And chop them in pieces
Like meat for the pot,
d Like flesh in the caldron.”
4Then ethey will cry to the LORD,
But He will not hear them;
He will even hide His face from them at that time,
Because they have been evil in their deeds.
5Thus says the LORD fconcerning the prophets
Who make my people stray;
Who chant 2“Peace”
3 While they gchew with their teeth,
But who prepare war against him
h Who puts nothing into their mouths:
6“Thereforei you shall have night without 4vision,
And you shall have darkness without divination;
The sun shall go down on the prophets,
And the day shall be dark for jthem.
7So the seers shall be ashamed,
And the diviners abashed;
Indeed they shall all cover their lips;
k For there is no answer from God.”
8But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the LORD,
And of justice and might,
l To declare to Jacob his transgression
And to Israel his sin.
9Now hear this,
You heads of the house of Jacob
And rulers of the house of Israel,
Who abhor justice
And 5pervert all equity,
10m Who build up Zion with nbloodshed
And Jerusalem with iniquity:
11o Her heads judge for a bribe,
p Her priests teach for pay,
And her prophets divine for 6money.
q Yet they lean on the LORD, and say,
“Is not the LORD among us?
No harm can come upon us.”
12Therefore because of you
Zion shall be rplowed like a field,
s Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins,
And tthe mountain of the 7temple
Like the bare hills of the forest.
Micah 4
The LORD’s Reign in Zion
(cf. Is. 2:2–4)
1Now ait shall come to pass in the latter days
That the mountain of the LORD’s house
Shall be established on the top of the mountains,
And shall be exalted above the hills;
And peoples shall flow to it.
2Many nations shall come and say,
“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
To the house of the God of Jacob;
He will teach us His ways,
And we shall walk in His paths.”
For out of Zion the law shall go forth,
And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
3He shall judge between many peoples,
And rebuke strong nations afar off;
They shall beat their swords into bplowshares,
And their spears into 1pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
c Neither shall they learn war anymore.
4d But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree,
And no one shall make them afraid;
For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken.
5For all people walk each in the name of his god,
But ewe will walk in the name of the LORD our God
Forever and ever.
Zion’s Future Triumph
6“In that day,” says the LORD,
f“I will assemble the lame,
g I will gather the outcast
And those whom I have afflicted;
7I will make the lame ha remnant,
And the outcast a strong nation;
So the LORD iwill reign over them in Mount Zion
From now on, even forever.
8And you, O tower of the flock,
The stronghold of the daughter of Zion,
To you shall it come,
Even the former dominion shall come,
The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.”
9Now why do you cry aloud?
j Is there no king in your midst?
Has your counselor perished?
For kpangs have seized you like a woman in 2labor.
10Be in pain, and labor to bring forth,
O daughter of Zion,
Like a woman in birth pangs.
For now you shall go forth from the city,
You shall dwell in the field,
And to lBabylon you shall go.
There you shall be delivered;
There the mLORD will nredeem you
From the hand of your enemies.
11o Now also many nations have gathered against you,
Who say, “Let her be defiled,
And let our eye plook upon Zion.”
12But they do not know qthe thoughts of the LORD,
Nor do they understand His counsel;
For He will gather them rlike sheaves to the threshing floor.
13“Arises and tthresh, O daughter of Zion;
For I will make your horn iron,
And I will make your hooves bronze;
You shall ubeat in pieces many peoples;
v I will consecrate their gain to the LORD,
And their substance to wthe Lord of the whole earth.”
Micah 5
The Messiah Will Be Born at Bethlehem
1Now gather yourself in troops,
O daughter of troops;
He has laid siege against us;
They will astrike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.
The Coming Messiah
2“But you, bBethlehem cEphrathah,
Though you are little damong the ethousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be fRuler in Israel,
g Whose goings forth are from of old,
From 1everlasting.”
3Therefore He shall give them up,
Until the time that hshe who is in labor has given birth;
Then ithe remnant of His brethren
Shall return to the children of Israel.
4And He shall stand and jfeed2 His flock
In the strength of the LORD,
In the majesty of the name of the LORD His God;
And they shall abide,
For now He kshall be great
To the ends of the earth;
5And this One lshall be peace.
Judgment on Israel’s Enemies
When the Assyrian comes into our land,
And when he treads in our palaces,
Then we will raise against him
Seven shepherds and eight princely men.
6They shall 3waste with the sword the land of Assyria,
And the land of mNimrod at its entrances;
Thus He shall ndeliver us from the Assyrian,
When he comes into our land
And when he treads within our borders.
7Then othe remnant of Jacob
Shall be in the midst of many peoples,
p Like dew from the LORD,
Like showers on the grass,
That 4tarry for no man
Nor 5wait for the sons of men.
8And the remnant of Jacob
Shall be among the Gentiles,
In the midst of many peoples,
Like a qlion among the beasts of the forest,
Like a young lion among flocks of sheep,
Who, if he passes through,
Both treads down and tears in pieces,
And none can deliver.
9Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries,
And all your enemies shall be 6cut off.
10“And it shall be in that day,” says the LORD,
“That I will rcut7 off your shorses from your midst
And destroy your tchariots.
11I will cut off the cities of your land
And throw down all your strongholds.
12I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
And you shall have no usoothsayers.
13v Your carved images I will also cut off,
And your sacred pillars from your midst;
You shall wno more worship the work of your hands;
14I will pluck your 8wooden images from your midst;
Thus I will destroy your cities.
15And I will xexecute vengeance in anger and fury
On the nations that have not 9heard.”
Micah 6
God Pleads with Israel
1Hear now what the LORD says:
“Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
And let the hills hear your voice.
2a Hear, O you mountains, bthe LORD’s complaint,
And you strong foundations of the earth;
For cthe LORD has a complaint against His people,
And He will 1contend with Israel.
3“O My people, what dhave I done to you?
And how have I ewearied you?
Testify against Me.
4f For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
I redeemed you from the house of bondage;
And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5O My people, remember now
What gBalak king of Moab counseled,
And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
From 2Acacia Grove to Gilgal,
That you may know hthe righteousness of the LORD.”
6With what shall I come before the LORD,
And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old?
7i Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
Ten thousand jrivers of oil?
k Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
3 The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8He has lshown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the LORD require of you
But mto do justly,
To love 4mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?
Punishment of Israel’s Injustice
9The LORD’s voice cries to the city—
Wisdom shall see Your name:
“Hear the rod!
Who has appointed it?
10Are there yet the treasures of wickedness
In the house of the wicked,
And the short measure that is an abomination?
11Shall I count pure those with nthe wicked scales,
And with the bag of deceitful weights?
12For her rich men are full of oviolence,
Her inhabitants have spoken lies,
And ptheir tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13“Therefore I will also qmake you sick by striking you,
By making you desolate because of your sins.
14r You shall eat, but not be satisfied;
5 Hunger shall be in your midst.
6 You may carry some away, but shall not save them;
And what you do rescue I will give over to the sword.
15“You shall ssow, but not reap;
You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
And make sweet wine, but not drink wine.
16For the statutes of tOmri are ukept;
All the works of Ahab’s house are done;
And you walk in their counsels,
That I may make you a 7desolation,
And your inhabitants a hissing.
Therefore you shall bear the vreproach of 8My people.”
Micah 7
Sorrow for Israel’s Sins
1Woe is me!
For I am like those who gather summer fruits,
Like those who aglean vintage grapes;
There is no cluster to eat
Of the first-ripe fruit which bmy soul desires.
2The cfaithful1 man has perished from the earth,
And there is no one upright among men.
They all lie in wait for blood;
d Every man hunts his brother with a net.
3That they may successfully do evil with both hands—
The prince asks for gifts,
The judge seeks a ebribe,
And the great man utters his evil desire;
So they scheme together.
4The best of them is flike a brier;
The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge;
The day of your watchman and your punishment comes;
Now shall be their perplexity.<
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5g Do not trust in a friend;
Do not put your confidence in a companion;
Guard the doors of your mouth
From her who lies in your hbosom.
6For ison dishonors father,
Daughter rises against her mother,
Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
A man’s enemies are the men of his own household.
7Therefore I will look to the LORD;
I will jwait for the God of my salvation;
My God will hear me.
Israel’s Confession and Comfort
8k Do not rejoice over me, my enemy;
l When I fall, I will arise;
When I sit in darkness,
The LORD will be a light to me.
9m I will bear the indignation of the LORD,
Because I have sinned against Him,
Until He pleads my ncase
And executes justice for me.
He will bring me forth to the light;
I will see His righteousness.
10Then she who is my enemy will see,
And oshame will cover her who said to me,
p“Where is the LORD your God?”
My eyes will see her;
Now she will be trampled down
Like mud in the streets.
11In the day when your qwalls are to be built,
In that day 2the decree shall go far and wide.
12In that day rthey3 shall come to you
From Assyria and the 4fortified cities,
From the 5fortress to 6the River,
From sea to sea,
And mountain to mountain.
13Yet the land shall be desolate
Because of those who dwell in it,
And sfor the fruit of their deeds.
God Will Forgive Israel
14Shepherd Your people with Your staff,
The flock of Your heritage,
Who dwell 7solitarily in a twoodland,
In the midst of Carmel;
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,
As in days of old.
15“Asu in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
I will show 8them vwonders.”
16The nations wshall see and be ashamed of all their might;
x They shall put their hand over their mouth;
Their ears shall be deaf.
17They shall lick the ydust like a serpent;
z They shall crawl from their holes like 9snakes of the earth.
a They shall be afraid of the LORD our God,
And shall fear because of You.
18b Who is a God like You,
c Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of dthe remnant of His heritage?
e He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in fmercy.10