They confiscate the fields they desire, and seize the houses they want. ¹  They defraud people of their homes, ²  and deprive people of the land they have inherited. ³ 

For this reason I ¹  will mourn and wail; I will walk around barefoot ²  and without my outer garments. ³  I will howl ⁴  like a wild dog, ⁵  and screech ⁶  like an owl. ⁷ 

yet you ¹  hate what is good, ²  and love what is evil. ³  You flay my people’s skin ⁴  and rip the flesh from their bones. ⁵ 

I will destroy the cities of your land, and tear down all your fortresses.

If a lying windbag should come and say, ¹  ‘I’ll promise you blessings of wine and beer,’ ²  he would be just the right preacher for these people! ³ 

But I ¹  am full of the courage that the Lord’s Spirit gives, and have a strong commitment to justice. ²  This enables me to confront Jacob with its rebellion, and Israel with its sin. ³ 

I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation, ¹  and those far off ²  into a mighty nation. The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion, from that day forward and forevermore.” ³ 

I will uproot your images of Asherah ¹  from your midst, and destroy your idols. ² 

Nations will see this and be disappointed by ¹  all their strength, they will put their hands over their mouths, and act as if they were deaf. ² 

He has told you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord really wants from you: ¹  He wants you to ²  promote ³  justice, to be faithful, ⁴  and to live obediently before ⁵  your God.

“In that day,” says the Lord, “I will destroy ¹  your horses from your midst, and smash your chariots.

I will remove the sorcery ¹  that you practice, ²  and you will no longer have omen readers living among you. ³ 

“Get up and thresh, Daughter Zion! For I will give you iron horns; ¹  I will give you bronze hooves, and you will crush many nations.” ²  You will devote to the Lord the spoils you take from them, and dedicate their wealth to the sovereign Ruler ³  of the whole earth. ⁴ 

This is the prophetic message that the Lord gave to ¹  Micah of Moresheth. He delivered this message ²  during the reigns of ³  Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. The prophecies pertain to ⁴  Samaria ⁵  and Jerusalem. ⁶ 

He will arbitrate ¹  between many peoples and settle disputes between many ²  distant nations. ³  They will beat their swords into plowshares, ⁴  and their spears into pruning hooks. ⁵  Nations will not use weapons ⁶  against other nations, and they will no longer train for war.

Therefore night will fall, and you will receive no visions; ¹  it will grow dark, and you will no longer be able to read the omens. ²  The sun will set on these prophets, and the daylight will turn to darkness over their heads. ³ 

They are determined to be experts at doing evil; ¹  government officials and judges take bribes, ²  prominent men make demands, and they all do what is necessary to satisfy them. ³ 

In fact, I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I delivered you from that place of slavery. I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead you. ¹ 

“In that day,” says the Lord, “I will gather the lame, and assemble the outcasts whom I injured. ¹ 

In that day people ¹  will come to you ²  from Assyria as far as ³  Egypt, from Egypt as far as the Euphrates River, ⁴  from the seacoasts ⁵  and the mountains. ⁶