MacWorld 1996 July/Macworld (1996-07).dmg/Shareware World/Communication/WarpSearch CGI 1.0/The_Bible/micah.txt

Text File | 1996-04-13 | 17KB | 320 lines

The next file is: MICAH
1:1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in
 the days of Jotham, Ahaz, [and] Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which
 he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
1:2 Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein
 is: and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the Lord from
 his holy temple.
1:3 For behold, the LORD cometh forth from his place, and will
 come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.
1:4 And the mountains shall be melted under him, and the valleys
 shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, [and] as the waters
 [that are] poured down a steep place.
1:5 For the transgression of Jacob [is] all this, and for the
 sins of the house of Israel. What [is] the transgression of
 Jacob? [is it] not Samaria? and what [are] the high places of
 Judah? [are they] not Jerusalem?
1:6 Therefore I will make Samaria as a heap of the field, [and]
 as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down her stones
 into the valley, and I will lay bare her foundations.
1:7 And all her graven images shall be beaten to pieces, and all
 her hires shall be burned with the fire, and all her idols will
 I lay desolate: for she gathered [it] from the hire of a
 harlot, and they shall return to the hire of a harlot.
1:8 Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and
 naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as
 the owls.
1:9 For her wound [is] incurable; for it is come to Judah; he is
 come to the gate of my people, [even] to Jerusalem.
1:10 Declare ye [it] not at Gath, weep ye not at all: in the
 house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust.
1:11 Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame
 exposed: the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the
 mourning of Beth-ezel; he shall receive from you his standing.
1:12 For the inhabitant of Maroth waited anxiously for good: but
 evil came down from the LORD to the gate of Jerusalem.
1:13 O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift
 beast: she [is] the beginning of the sin to the daughter of
 Zion: for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee.
1:14 Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moresheth-gath: the
 houses of Achzib [shall be] a lie to the kings of Israel.
1:15 Yet will I bring an heir to thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah:
 he shall come to Adullam the glory of Israel.
1:16 Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children;
 enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into
 captivity from thee.
2:1 Woe to them that devise iniquity, and work evil upon their
 beds! when the morning is light, they practice it, because it
 is in the power of their hand.
2:2 And they covet fields, and take [them] by violence; and
 houses, and take [them] away: so they oppress a man and his
 house, even a man and his heritage.
2:3 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, against this family
 do I devise an evil, from which ye shall not remove your necks;
 neither shall ye go haughtily: for this time [is] evil.
2:4 In that day shall [one] take up a parable against you, and
 lament with a grievous lamentation, [and] say, We are utterly
 wasted: he hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he
 removed [it] from me! turning away he hath divided our fields.
2:5 Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot
 in the congregation of the LORD.
2:6 Prophesy ye not, [say they to them that] prophesy: they
 shall not prophesy to them, [that] they shall not take shame.
2:7 O [thou that art] named the house of Jacob, is the spirit of
 the LORD straitened? are these his doings? do not my words do
 good to him that walketh uprightly?
2:8 Even of late my people hath risen up as an enemy: ye pull
 off the robe with the garment from them that pass by securely
 as men averse to war.
2:9 The women of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant
 houses; from their children have ye taken away my glory for
 ever.
2:10 Arise ye, and depart; for this [is] not [your] rest:
 because it is polluted, it shall destroy [you], even with a
 grievous destruction.
2:11 If a man walking in the spirit and falsehood doth lie,
 [saying], I will prophesy to thee of wine and of strong drink;
 he shall even be the prophet of this people.
2:12 I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely
 gather the remnant of Israel; I will put them together as the
 sheep of Bozrah, as the flock in the midst of their fold: they
 shall make great noise by reason of [the multitude of] men.
2:13 The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up,
 and have passed through the gate, and have gone out by it; and
 their king shall pass before them, and the LORD on the head of
 them.
3:1 And I said, Hear, I pray you, O heads of Jacob, and ye
 princes of the house of Israel: [Is it] not for you to know
 judgment?
3:2 Who hate the good, and love the evil; who pluck off their
 skin from them, and their flesh from off their bones;
3:3 Who also eat the flesh of my people, and flay their skin
 from off them; and they break their bones, and chop them in
 pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.
3:4 Then shall they cry to the LORD, but he will not hear them:
 he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have
 behaved themselves ill in their doings.
3:5 Thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that make my
 people err, that bite with their teeth, and cry, Peace; and he
 that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare war
 against him:
3:6 Therefore night [shall be] to you, that ye shall not have a
 vision; and it shall be dark to you, that ye shall not divine;
 and the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall
 be dark over them.
3:7 Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners
 confounded: yes, they shall all cover their lips; for [there
 is] no answer of God.
3:8 But truly I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and
 of judgment, and of might, to declare to Jacob his
 transgression, and to Israel his sin.
3:9 Hear this, I pray you, ye heads of the house of Jacob, and
 princes of the house of Israel, that abhor judgment, and
 pervert all equity.
3:10 They build up Zion with blood, and Jerusalem with iniquity.
3:11 Her heads judge for reward, and her priests teach for hire,
 and her prophets divine for money; yet will they lean upon the
 LORD, and say, [Is] not the LORD among us? no evil can come
 upon us.
3:12 Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed [as] a field,
 and Jerusalem shall become heaps, and the mountain of the house
 as the high places of the forest.
4:1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, [that] the mount
 of the house of the LORD shall be established on the top of the
 mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people
 shall flow to it.
4:2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up
 to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of
 Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in
 his paths: for the law shall go forth from Zion, and the word
 of the LORD from Jerusalem.
4:3 And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong
 nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into
 plow-shares, and their spears into pruning-hooks: nation shall
 not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn
 war any more.
4:4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his
 fig-tree; and none shall make [them] afraid: for the mouth of
 the LORD of hosts hath spoken [it].
4:5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god,
 and we will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and
 ever.
4:6 In that day, saith the LORD, I will assemble her that
 halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that
 I have afflicted;
4:7 And I will make her that halted a remnant, and her that was
 cast far off a strong nation: and the LORD will reign over them
 in mount Zion from henceforth, even for ever.
4:8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the strong hold of the
 daughter of Zion, to thee shall it come, even the first
 dominion; the kingdom shall come, to the daughter of Jerusalem.
4:9 Now why dost thou cry aloud? [is there] no king in thee?
 hath thy counselor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a
 woman in travail.
4:10 Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Zion,
 like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth from the
 city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go
 [even] to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the
 LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thy enemies.
4:11 Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say,
 Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.
4:12 But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither
 understand they his counsel: for he will gather them as sheaves
 into the floor.
4:13 Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thy
 horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat
 in pieces many people: and I will consecrate their gain to
 JEHOVAH, and their substance to the Lord of the whole earth.
5:1 Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath
 laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel
 with a rod upon the cheek.
5:2 But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, [though] thou art little
 among the thousands of Judah, [yet] out of thee shall he come
 forth to me [that is] to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth
 [have been] from of old, from everlasting.
5:3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time [that] she
 who travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his
 brethren shall return to the children of Israel.
5:4 And he will stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in
 the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall
 abide: for now will he be great to the ends of the earth.
5:5 And this [man] will be the peace, when the Assyrian shall
 come into our land: and when he shall tread in our palaces,
 then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight
 principal men.
5:6 And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and
 the land of Nimrod in its entrances: thus will he deliver [us]
 from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he
 treadeth within our borders.
5:7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many
 people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass,
 that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.
5:8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the gentiles in the
 midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest,
 as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he goeth
 through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none
 can deliver.
5:9 Thy hand shall be lifted up upon thy adversaries, and all
 thy enemies shall be cut off.
5:10 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that
 I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will
 destroy thy chariots:
5:11 And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw down
 all thy strong holds:
5:12 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thy hand; and thou
 shalt have no [more] sooth-sayers:
5:13 Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing
 images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship
 the work of thy hands.
5:14 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so
 will I destroy thy cities.
5:15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the
 heathen, such as they have not heard.
6:1 Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before
 the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
6:2 Hear ye, O mountains, the LORD'S controversy, and ye strong
 foundations of the earth: for the LORD hath a controversy with
 his people, and he will plead with Israel.
6:3 O my people, what have I done to thee? and wherein have I
 wearied thee? testify against me,
6:4 For I brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed
 thee from the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses,
 Aaron, and Miriam.
6:5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted,
 and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to
 Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the LORD.
6:6 Wherewith shall I come before the LORD, [and] bow myself
 before the high God? shall I come before him with
 burnt-offerings, with calves of a year old?
6:7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, [or] with
 ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my first-born
 [for] my transgression, the fruit of my body [for] the sin of
 my soul?
6:8 He hath shown thee, O man, what [is] good; and what the LORD
 doth require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and
 to walk humbly with thy God?
6:9 The LORD'S voice crieth to the city, and [the man of] wisdom
 shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.
6:10 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of
 the wicked, and the scant measure [that is] abominable?
6:11 Shall I count [them] pure with the wicked balances, and
 with the bag of deceitful weights?
6:12 For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the
 inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue [is]
 deceitful in their mouth.
6:13 Therefore also will I make [thee] sick in smiting thee, in
 making [thee] desolate because of thy sins.
6:14 Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down
 [shall be] in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but
 shalt not deliver; and [that] which thou deliverest will I give
 up to the sword.
6:15 Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread
 the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet
 wine, but shalt not drink wine.
6:16 For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the
 house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should
 make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing:
 therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.
7:1 Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer
 fruits, as the grape-gleanings of the vintage: [there is] no
 cluster to eat: my soul desired the first ripe fruit.
7:2 The good [man] hath perished from the earth: and [there is]
 none upright among men: they all lie in wait for blood; they
 hunt every man his brother with a net.
7:3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the prince
 asketh, and the judge [asketh] for a reward; and the great
 [man], he uttereth his mischievous desire: so they wrap it up.
7:4 The best of them [is] as a brier: the most upright [is
 sharper] than a thorn hedge: the day of thy watchmen [and] thy
 visitation cometh; now shall be their perplexity.
7:5 Trust ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide:
 keep the doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom.
7:6 For the son dishonoreth the father, the daughter riseth up
 against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her
 mother-in-law; a man's enemies [are] the men of his own house.
7:7 Therefore I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God
 of my salvation: my God will hear me.
7:8 Rejoice not against me, O my enemy: when I fall, I shall
 arise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD [will be] a light to
 me.
7:9 I will bear the indignation of the LORD, because I have
 sinned against him, until he shall plead my cause, and execute
 judgment for me: he will bring me forth to the light, [and] I
 shall behold his righteousness.
7:10 Then [she that is] my enemy shall see [it], and shame shall
 cover her who said to me, Where is the LORD thy God? my eyes
 shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mire of
 the streets.
7:11 [In] the day that thy walls are to be built, [in] that day
 shall the decree be far removed.
7:12 [In] that day [also] he shall come even to thee from
 Assyria, and [from] the fortified cities, and from the fortress
 even to the river, and from sea to sea, and [from] mountain to
 mountain.
7:13 Notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because of them
 that dwell in it, for the fruit of their doings.
7:14 Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy heritage,
 who dwell solitarily [in] the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let
 them feed [in] Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
7:15 According to the days of thy departure from the land of
 Egypt will I show to him marvelous [things].
7:16 The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might:
 they shall lay [their] hand upon [their] mouth, their ears
 shall be deaf.
7:17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move
 out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be
 afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee.
7:18 Who [is] a God like to thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and
 passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he
 retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth [in]
 mercy.
7:19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he
 will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins
 into the depths of the sea.
7:20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, [and] the mercy to
 Abraham, which thou hast sworn to our fathers from the days of
 old.