judgment, and of might, to declare unto 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 The heads thereof judge for reward, and the priests thereof teach
for hire, and the prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they
lean upon the LORD, and say, Is not the LORD among us? none 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 mountain of
the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the
mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall
flow unto 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 of 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 plowshares, and their
spears into pruninghooks: 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, will I 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 shall 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, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom
shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.
4:9 Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy
counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.
4:10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a
woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of 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 thine 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 shall gather them as the sheaves into the
floor.
4:13 Arise and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn
iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass: and thou shalt beat in pieces
many people: and I will consecrate their gain unto the LORD, and their
substance unto 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, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the
thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto 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 which
travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall
return unto the children of Israel.
5:4 And he shall 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
shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
5:5 And this man shall 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 the entrances thereof: thus shall 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 go through, both treadeth
down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.
5:9 Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all
thine 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 thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers: 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 thine 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 unto thee? and wherein have I
wearied thee? testify against me.
6:4 For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee
out of 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 unto 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 firstborn for my
transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 6:8 He
hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD 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 unto the city, and the man of
wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.