come up a breaker before them; and they shall break through, and go out and come in at the gate: and their king shall go before them, and the LORD before him.
(Micah)
Chapter 3
Punishment of the heads in the secular and ecclesiastical state.

And I said, Hear now, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel. Ye ought to be just, that know the right.

But ye hate that which is good, and love that which is evil: ye flay the skin of them, and the flesh of their legs.

And ye shall eat the flesh of my people: and when ye have flayed off their skin, ye shall break their legs also, and cut them as into a pot, and as meat into a caldron.

Therefore when ye shall cry unto the LORD, he will not hearken unto you, but will hide his face from you in that day, as ye have deserved with your wickedness.

Thus saith the LORD against the prophets that deceive my people: They preach that it shall be well where they are fed: but where they are not fed, they preach that war must come.

Therefore your vision shall become night, and your divination darkness. The sun shall go down upon the prophets, and the day shall be dark upon them.

And the showers shall be put to shame, and the diviners to scorn; and they shall all cover their mouths, because there shall be no word of God.

But I am full of the power and spirit of the LORD, of judgment and might, that I may shew Jacob his transgression, and Israel his sin.

Hear therefore this, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and ye princes of the house of Israel, which spurn justice, and pervert all that is upright,

Which build Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity. Their heads judge for gifts, their priests teach for wages, and their prophets prophesy for money, relying on the LORD, and saying: Is not the LORD among us? No evil can come upon us.

Therefore Zion shall be ploughed up as a field for your sakes, and Jerusalem shall become a heap of stones, and the mountain of the temple a wild height.
(Micah)
Chapter 4
Of Christ’s kingdom; redemption from Babylonian captivity.

But in the last days the mountain whereon the house of the LORD standeth shall surely be higher than all mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills.

And the nations shall come running, and many nations shall go, saying, 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 his ways, and that we may walk in his paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD out of Jerusalem.

He shall judge among great nations, and shall punish many nations in far countries. They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. No nation shall lift up a sword against another, neither shall they learn war any more.

Every man shall dwell under his vine and under his fig tree without fear: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.

For every nation shall walk in the name of its God: but we shall walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever.

In that day, saith the LORD, I will gather together the lame, and will gather together the rejecters, and them that I have afflicted.

And I will make the lame to have heirs, and the outcast to be a great nation: and the LORD
shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth even for ever.

And thou tower of Eder, a stronghold of the daughter of Zion, thy golden rose shall come, the former dominion, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.

Why then dost thou now cleave unto other friends? Is not the king with thee, and are all thy counsellors gone, that woe is come upon thee as one in childish distress?

Suffer thou this affliction, O daughter of Zion, and croak as one in childbearing: for thou shalt go out of the city, and dwell in the field, and come to Babylon. For thou shalt go out of the city, and dwell in the field, and come to Babylon: but thou shalt be delivered from thence.
There the LORD will deliver you from your enemies.

For many nations shall be gathered together against thee, and shall say, She is banished: we will see our delight in Zion.

But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither perceive his counsel, because he hath gathered them together like sheaves in the threshingfloor.

Arise therefore, and thresh, thou daughter of Zion. For I will make thee horns of iron, and claws of brass; and thou shalt break in pieces many nations: and I will utterly destroy their goods unto the LORD, and their substance unto the ruler of the whole earth.

But now, thou warriors, prepare thyself. For they shall besiege us, and smite the judge of
Israel with the rod upon the beacons.
(Micah)
Chapter 5
From Christ’s birthplace.

And thou, Bethlehem Ephrathah, which art little among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall he come unto me that is Lord in Israel, which is from the beginning and from everlasting.

But he shall afflict them until the time that she that is to bear shall bear. Then shall the remnant of his brethren return unto the children of Israel.

And he shall appear and feed in the power of the LORD, and in the victory of the name of his God. And they shall dwell: for he shall be glorified in that day, as far as the world is.

For this also shall we have peace from Assyria, which is now fallen in our land, and hath trodden down our houses. For seven shepherds and eight princes shall be raised up against him,

Who destroy the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with their bare weapons. So shall we be saved from Assyria, which hath fallen into our land, and hath trodden down our border.

The remnant also of Jacob shall be among many nations as the dew of the LORD, and as the droplets of the grass, waiting for no man, nor for men.

Yea, the remnant of Jacob shall be among the heathen of many nations, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among a flock of sheep, which no man can withstand, when he goeth through, treading and tearing.

For thine hand shall prevail against all thine enemies, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.

In that day, saith the LORD, will I put away thy horses from thee, and destroy thy chariots; 10. And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and break down all thy strongholds; 11. And I will cut off sorcerers from among thee, and there shall no diviner abide with thee.

I will cut off thy images and thy idols from thee, and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands,

And I will break up thy groves, and destroy thy cities.

And I will execute vengeance with fury and wrath upon all the heathen that will not obey.
(Micah)
Chapter 6
Of the sacrifices that please God.

Hear therefore what the LORD saith, Arise, and rebuke the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.

Hear, ye mountains, how the LORD will punish, and the strong foundations of the earth. For the LORD will rebuke his people, and will punish Israel.

What have I done unto thee, my people, and wherewith have I offended thee? Tell me.

For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of bondage, and sent before thee Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam.

Now remember, my people, what Balak king of Moab purposed to do, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from Shittim even unto Gilgal: whereupon ye shall know how the LORD hath done you all good.

Wherewith shall I make atonement unto the LORD? With bowing down before the high God?
Shall I make atonement for him with burnt offerings and calves of the year?

Thinkest thou that the LORD hath pleasure in many thousands of rams, or in oil, though it were innumerable rivers full? Or shall I give my first son for my transgression, or the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

It is told thee, O man, what is good, and what the LORD requireth of thee, to keep the word of God, and to love, and to be humble before thy God.

The voice of the LORD shall call upon the city: but he that feareth thy name shall prosper.
Hear, ye tribes, what is preached.

There remaineth yet unrighteousness in the house of the wicked, and the lowly and hostile ephah.

Or shall I approve the unjust scales, and the false weight in the bag?

By whom their rich do much wrong? And their inhabitants deal in lies, and have false tongues in their throats.

Therefore will I also begin to afflict thee, and to make thee desolate for thy sin.

Thou shalt not have enough to eat, neither shalt thou faint. And that which thou hast received shall not pass away: and that which passeth away will I deliver to the sword.

Thou shalt sow, and not reap: thou shalt press oil, and not anoint thyself with it; and thou shalt press wine, and not drink wine.

For they have kept the way of Amri, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and have followed their counsel. Therefore will I make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof, to be whistled