ii. MICAH i. A Discourse of Judgment and Salvation The LORD'S Controversy before the Mountains The LORD'S Cry and the Man of Wisdom iii. i A Discourse of Judgment and Salvation I Hear, ye peoples, all of you; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord GOD be witness among you, the Lord from his holy temple. For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, as waters that are poured down a steep place. 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? Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as the plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof. And all her graven images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her hires shall be burned with fire, and all her idols will I lay desolate: for of the hire of an harlot hath she gathered them, and unto the hire of an harlot shall they return. 2 For this will I wail and howl; I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the jackals, For her wounds are incurable: For it is come even unto Judah; It reacheth to the gate of my people, Tell it not in Gath: Weep not at all; At Beth-le-Aphrah roll thyself in the dust; Pass ye away, O inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame. The inhabitant of Zaanan is not come forth; The wailing of Beth-ezel shall take from you the stay thereof; For the inhabitant of Maroth waiteth anxiously for good: Because evil is come down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem. Bind the chariot to the 'swift steed,' O inhabitant of 'Lachish': She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, Therefore shalt thou give a parting gift to Moreshethgath; The houses of 'Achzib' shall be 'a deceitful thing' unto the kings of Israel; I will yet bring unto thee, O inhabitant of 'Mare- The glory of Israel shall come even unto Adullam : thy delight; Enlarge thy baldness as the eagle: For they are gone into captivity from thee. 3 Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil upon their beds! when the morning is light, they practise it, because it is in the power of their hand. And they covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. 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 walk haughtily; for it is an evil time. In that day shall they take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, and say: We be utterly spoiled: He changeth the portion of my people: How doth he remove it from me! To the rebellious he divideth our fields. Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast the line by lot in the congregation of the LORD. 4 Prophesy ye not· - thus they prophesy - they shall not prophesy of these things: their reproaches never cease! Shall it be said, O 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? But of late my people is risen up as an enemy: ye strip the robe from off the garment from them that pass by securely as men averse from war. The women of my people ye cast out from their pleasant houses; from their young children ye take away my glory for ever. Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because of uncleanness that destroyeth, even with a grievous destruction. If a man walking in wind and falsehood do lie, saying, I will prophesy unto thee of wine and of strong drink; he shall even be the prophet of this people. 'I will surely assemble, O Jacob, all of thee; I will surely gather the remnant of Israel: |