Micah-Mikha
To Our Forefathers Yisrael
1 The Word of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 that came to Micha the Moresheth in the yamim of Yotam, Achaz and Hizkiyahu, melechim of Yahudah, that he saw concerning Shomron and Yahrushalayim.
2 Shema, all you people;Shema, O olam and all that are in them: and let 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 Ahlohim be witness against you, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 from His kodesh Hekal.
3 For, behold, 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 comes forth out of His place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
4 And the mountains shall melt under Him and the valleys shall be torn, as wax in front of a fire and as the mayim that are poured down a steep place.
5 For the transgression of Yaakov is all this happening and for the sins of Beit Yisrael. What is the transgression of Yaakov? Is it not Shomron? And what are the idol temples of Yahudah? Are they not in Yahrushalayim?
6 Therefore I will make Shomron as a heap of the field and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones of it into the valley and I will uncover the foundations of it.
7 And all the graven images of it shall be beaten to pieces and all the gifts of it shall be burned with the fire and all the idols of it will I lay desolate: for she gathered it from the hire of a harlot and they shall return to the hire of a harlot.
8 Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a lamentation like the jackals and mourning like owls.
9 For her wound is incurable; for it is come to Yahudah; he is come to the gate of My people, even to Yahrushalayim.
10 Gilah not at Gat, weep not at all: in the bayit of Aphrah roll yourselves in the dust.
11 Pass away, beautiful inhabitant, having your shame naked: O inhabitant of Tza-Anan your wound will be like that of Beth-Etzel;
12 For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for tov: but evil came down from 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 to the gate of Yahrushalayim.
13 O you inhabitant of Lachish, bind the mirkavah to the swift horse: she is the beginning of sin to the daughter of Tzion: for the transgressions of Yisrael were found in you.
14 Therefore shall you abandon the possessions of Moresheth-Gat: the shrines of falsehood shall be a lie to the melechim of Yisrael.
15 Yet will I bring an heir to you, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he shall exalt the tifereth of Yisrael le-olam-va-ed.
16 Make yourselves bald and pull out your hair for your delicate children; enlarge your baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from you.
2 Woe to them that devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the boker is ohr, they practice it because it is in the power of their hand.
2 And they covet fields and take them by violence; and houses and take them away: so they oppress a man and his bayit, even a man and his inheritance.
3 Therefore this says 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄; Behold, against this mishpacha do I devise an evil, from which you shall not remove your necks; neither shall you walk away proudly: for this time is evil.
4 In that yom shall one take up a parable against you and lament with a bitter lamentation and say, We are utterly plundered: He has changed the inheritance of My people: how has He removed it from me! Turning away from us He has divided our fields.
5 Therefore you shall have no one in the kehilla of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 to divide the land by lot.
6 Don’t you preach, say the false neviim, you shall not preach to them, so that shame shall not overtake them.
7 O you that are named Beit Yaakov, is The Ruach of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 limited? Are these His doings? Do not My Words do tov to him that walks as a tzadik?
8 Even of late My people have risen up as an enemy: you pull off the robe with the garment from the poor that they lose their tikvah, as men who invite war.
9 The women of My people have you cast out from their pleasant houses; from their children have you taken away My tifereth le-olam-va-ed.
10 Arise and depart; for this is no place for your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a heavy destruction.
11 If a man walking in the ruach of falsehood does lie, saying, I will prophesy to you being overwhelmed by wine and strong drink; even he shall be the navi of this people.
12 I will surely assemble, O Yaakov, all of you; I will surely gather the remnant of Yisrael; 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.
13 The derech breaker shall come up before them: they shall break out and will pass through the gate and go out by it: and their Melech shall pass before them and 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 at their head.
3 And I said, Shema, I ask you, O heads of Yaakov and you rulers of Beit Yisrael; should you not know mishpat?
2 Who hate the tov and love the evil; who tear away the skin from my people and their flesh from off their bones;
3 Who also eat the flesh of my people and strip their skin from off them; and they break their bones and chop them in pieces, as for a pot and as meat within the cooking pot.
4 Then shall they cry to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, but He will not listen to them: He will even hide His face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves evil in their deeds.
5 This says 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 concerning the neviim that lead My people into error, that bite with their teeth and cry, Shalom; they even preach war against him who does not provide lechem for them.
6 Therefore lyla shall be to you, that you shall not have a vision; and it shall be dark to you, that you shall not divine; and the shemesh shall go down over the neviim and the yom shall be dark over them.
7 Then shall the seers be ashamed and the diviners embarrassed: yes, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer from Ahlohim.
8 But truly I am full of the power by The Ruach of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 and of mishpat and of might, to declare to Yaakov his transgression and to Yisrael his sin.
9 Shema to this, I ask you, you heads of Beit Yaakov and rulers of Beit Yisrael, that abhor mishpat and pervert all that is right.
10 They build up Tzion with dahm and Yahrushalayim with iniquity.
11 The heads of Yisrael judge for reward and bribes and the kohanim teach for pay and the neviim divine for money: yet they lean on 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 and say, Is not 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 among us? No evil can come upon us.
12 Therefore because of you Tzion shall be plowed as a field and Yahrushalayim shall become heaps and the Har HaBayit like a forest.
4 But in the Yamim Acharonim it shall come to pass, that the Har HaBayit of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 shall be established on the top of the mountains and it shall be exalted above the hills; and the goyim shall flow to it.
2 And many goyim shall come and say, Come and let us go up to the har of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 and to the Bayit of the Ahlohim of Yaakov; and He will teach us His halachot and we will have our halacha in His paths: for the Torah shall go forth from Tzion and The Word of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 from Yahrushalayim.
3 And He shall judge among many peoples and rebuke strong goyim far off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig eytz; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 Tzevaot has spoken it.
5 For all peoples will walk every one in the name of his ahlahim and we will walk in the Name of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 our Ahlohim le-olam-va-ed.
6 In that yom, says 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, will I assemble her that was lame, and I will gather her that was driven out, and her that I have afflicted;
7 And I will make her that was lame a remnant, and her that was cast far off a strong nation and 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 shall reign over them in Har Tzion from that time forward,even le-olam-va-ed.
8 And you, gloomy ruler, the stronghold of the daughter of Tzion, your time has come, even the first dominion the former Ruler of the malchut shall come to the daughter of Yahrushalayim.
9 Now why do you cry out aloud? Is there no melech in you? Is your counselor perished? For pains have taken you as a woman in travail.
10 Be in pain and labor to bring forth, O daughter of Tzion, like a woman in travail: for now shall you go forth out of the city and you shall dwell in the field and you shall go even to Bavel; there shall you be delivered; there 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 shall redeem you from the hand of your enemies.
11 Now also many goyim are gathered against you, that say, Let her be defiled and let our eye look upon Tzion.
12 But they know not the thoughts of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, neither do they understand His counsel: for He shall gather them as the sheaves into the threshing floor.
13 Arise and thresh them, O daughter of Tzion: for I will make your horn iron and I will make your hoofs brass: and you shall beat in pieces many goyim: and I will dedicate their gain to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 and their wealth to The Master of the whole earth.
5 Now gather yourself in troops, O daughter of troops: He has laid siege against us: they shall smite the Shophet of Yisrael and His tribes with a rod upon the cheek.
2 But you, Beth-Lechem Ephratah, though you are little among the thousands of towns of Yahudah, yet out of you shall He, The Moshiach, come forth to Me that is to be Ruler in Yisrael; whose goings forth-exiting, have been from of old, from everlasting.
3 Therefore will He give them up, until the time that she who travails has brought forth: then the remnant of His brothers shall return to the children of Yisrael.
4 And He shall stand and feed Yisrael in the strength of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, in the majesty of the Name of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 His Ahlohim; and they shall dwell: for now shall He be great to the ends of the earth.
5 And this Man shall be The-Shalom, when the Ashurite 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.
6 And they shall waste the land of Ashshur with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances of it: and He shall deliver us from Ashshur, when they come into our land and when they tread within our borders.
7 And the remnant of Yaakov shall be in the midst of many goyim as dew from 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, as the showers upon the grass that tarries not for man, nor waits for the sons of men.
8 And the remnant of Yaakov shall be among the goyim in the midst of many goyim as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he goes through, both treads down and tears in pieces and none can deliver.
9 Your hand shall be lifted up upon your adversaries and all your enemies shall be cut off.
10 And it shall come to pass in that yom, says 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄, that I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you and I will destroy your mirkavot:
11 And I will cut off the cities of your land and throw down all your strongholds:
12 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of your hand; and you shall have no more magicians:
13 Your graven images also will I cut off and your pillars out of the midst of you; and you shall no more worship the work of your hands.
14 And I will pluck up your Asherim out of the midst of you: so will I destroy your cities.
15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard of before.
6 Hear now what 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 says; Arise, contend before the mountains and let the hills hear your voice.
2 Shema, O mountains,𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄’s controversy and you strong foundations of the earth: for 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 has a controversy with His people and He will reprove Yisrael.
3 O My people, what have I done to you? And how have I wearied you? Answer Me!
4 For I brought you up out of the land of Mitzrayim and redeemed you out of the bayit of bondage; and I sent before you Moshe, Aharon and Miryam.
5 O My people, remember now how Balak melech of Moav consulted and what Bilam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim to Gilgal; that you may know the tzedakah of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄.
6 With what shall I come before 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 and bow myself before El-Elyon Ahlohim ? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?
7 Will 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my bachor for my transgression, the fruit of my gooff for the sin of my being?
8 He has showed you, O ish, what is tov. What does 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 require of you? But to do tzedakah and to love rachamim and to have a humble halacha with your Ahlohim.
9 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄’s voice cries to the city and the man of chochmah shall see Your Name: listen for the rod and to the One who has appointed it.
10 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the bayit of the wicked and the short measure that is abominable?
11 Shall I count them as innocent who have the unjust scales and bags of false weights?
12 For the rich men who do so are full of violence and the inhabitants who do so have spoken lies and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13 Therefore also will I make you sick in smiting you, in making you desolate because of your sins.
14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied; and your insides shall be empty. You shall store up, but not save; and that which you save will I give up to the sword.
15 You shall sow, but you shall not reap; you shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil; and make sweet wine, but shall not drink wine.
16 For the chukim of Omri are kept and all the works of Beit Achav and you have your halacha in their counsels; that I should make you a desolation and your inhabitants a hissing: therefore you shall bear the reproach of My people.
7 Woe is me! For I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grape gleanings of the harvest: there is no cluster to eat: my being desired the first ripe fruit.
2 The tov man is perished out of the earth: and there is none upright among men: they all lie in wait for dahm; they hunt every man his brother with a net.
3 That they may do evil with both hands earnestly, the ruler asks and the shophet asks for a bribe; and the ruler, he utters only the desire of his being:
4 The best of them is as a brier: the most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge: the yom of your watchmen and your visitation comes; now shall be their perplexity.
5 Trust not in a chaver, put no confidence in a neighbor, or guide: guard the doors of your mouth from your isha.
6 For the son dishonors the abba, the daughter rises up against her emma, the daughter-in-law against her emma-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own bayit.
7 Therefore I will look to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄; I will wait for the Ahlohim of MyOSWHY. My Ahlohim will listen to me.
8 Do not gilah against me, O my enemy: when I fall, I shall yet rise; when I sit in darkness,𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 shall be an ohr to me.
9 I will bear the affliction of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my cause and executes mishpat for me: He will bring me forth to The Ohr and I shall behold His tzedakah.
10 Then she that is my enemy shall see it and shame shall cover her who said to me, Where is 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 your Ahlohim ? My eyes shall behold her: now shall she be trodden down as the mud in the streets.
11 In the yom that your walls are to be built, it is a yom to be lifted up.
12 In that yom also he shall come even to you from Ashshur and from the fortified cities of Mitzrayim, to the river and from sea to sea and from har to har.
13 Nevertheless the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell there, for the fruit of their doings.
14 Shepherd Your people with Your rod, the flock of Your heritage, who dwell alone in a forest, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilad, as in the yamim of old.
15 According to the yamim of your coming out of the land of Mitzrayim will I show to him your marvelous things.
16 The goyim shall see and be ashamed at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth; their ears shall be deaf.
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 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 our Ahlohim and shall fear because of You.
18 Who is an El like You; that pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He retains not His anger le-olam-va-ed because He delights in rachamim.
19 He will return again, He will have rachamim on us; He will trample our iniquities; and You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.
20 You will perform the emet to Yaakov and the rachamim to Avraham, which You have sworn to our ahvot from the yamim of old. Ahmein