Micah 6

1 Listen to what the Lord says: Rise, contend in judgment against the mountains, and let the hills hear your voice.

2 Let the mountains listen to the judgment of the Lord, and the strong foundations of the earth. For the judgment of the Lord is with his people, and he will enter into judgment with Israel.

3 My people, what have I done to you, or how have I assailed you? Respond to me.

4 For I led you out of the land of Egypt, and I freed you from the house of servitude, and I sent before your face Moses, and Aaron, and Miriam.

5 My people, remember, I ask you, what Balak the king of Moab planned, and how Balaam the son of Beor responded to him, from Shittim even to Gilgal, so that you may know the justice of the Lord.

6 What worthy thing might I offer to the Lord, as I bend the knee before God on high? How could I offer holocausts to him, and one year-old calves?

7 Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with many thousands of fat he-goats? How could I give up my firstborn because of my evil deed, the fruit of my womb because of the sin of my soul?

8 I will reveal to you, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requires from you, and how to act with judgment, and to love mercy, and to walk carefully with your God.

9 The voice of the Lord cries out to the city, “Listen, you tribes,” and who will confirm it? And salvation will be for those who fear your name.

10 Nevertheless, there is a fire in the house of the impious, the treasury of iniquity, and a small measure, filled with wrath.

11 Shall I justify unfaithful balances, and the deceitful weighing of a small bag?

12 By this, her wealthy have been filled with iniquity, and her inhabitants have spoken lies, and their tongue was deceitful in their mouth.

13 And I, therefore, began to strike you with perdition because of your sins.

14 You will consume and not be satisfied, and your humiliation will be in your midst. And you will take hold, and not save, and those whom you will save, I will deliver to the sword.

15 You will sow, and not reap. You will tread the olives, and not be anointed with oil, and crush the grapes, and not drink the wine.

16 For you have kept the precepts of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab. And you have walked according their wills, so that I should give you over to perdition and its hissing inhabitants, and you would carry the disgrace of my people.

Micah 7

1 Woe to me, for I have become just like one who gleans the clusters of the vintage in autumn. There is no cluster of grapes to consume; my soul desired figs out of season.

2 The holy ones pass away from the land, and there is no one righteous among men. All wait in ambush for blood; a man hunts his brother to death.

3 The evil of their hands, they call good. The leader is demanding, and the judge is yielding, and the great is speaking the desire of his soul, and they have confused it.

4 Whoever is best among them is like a thorny plant, and he who is righteous is like a thorny hedge. The day of your inspection, your visitation, arrives. Now will be their ruination.

5 Do not be willing to believe a friend. And do not be willing to confide in a commander. From her, who sleeps in your bosom, keep the doors of your mouth closed.

6 For the son acts with contempt for the father, and the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law, and a man’s enemies are those of his own household.

7 But I will look towards the Lord. I will wait for God, my Savior. My God will hear me.

8 You, my enemy, should not rejoice over me because I have fallen. I will rise up, when I sit in darkness. The Lord is my light.

9 I will carry the wrath of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he may judge my case and execute judgment for me. He will lead me into the light. I will behold his justice.

10 And my enemy will look, and she will be covered with confusion, she who says to me, “Where is the Lord your God?” My eyes will look upon her. Now she will be trampled under foot like the mud of the streets.

11 The day that your walls will be rebuilt, in that day the law will be far away.

12 In that day also, they will come towards you even from Assur, and even to the fortified cities, and from the fortified cities even to the river, and from sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain.

13 And the land will be in desolation, because of its inhabitants and because of the fruit of their intentions.

14 With your rod, pasture your people, the flock of your inheritance, living alone in the narrow forest, in the midst of Carmel. They will graze in Bashan and Gilead, as in the ancient days.

15 As in the days of your departure from the land of Egypt, I will reveal miracles to him.

16 The nations will look, and they will be confounded at the strength of them all. They will place hand over mouth; their ears will be deaf.

17 They will lick the dust like serpents, and, like the creeping things of the earth, they will be disturbed in their houses. They will dread the Lord our God, and they will fear you.

18 What God is like you, who takes away iniquity and passes over the sin of the remnant of your inheritance? No longer will he send forth his fury, because he is willing to be merciful.

19 He will turn back and have mercy on us. He will put away our iniquities, and he will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea.

20 You will give the truth to Jacob, mercy to Abraham, which you swore to our fathers from the ancient days.

Jonah 1

1 And the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying:

2 Rise and go to Nineveh, the great city, and preach in it. For its malice has ascended before my eyes.

3 And Jonah rose in order to flee from the face of the Lord to Tarshish. And he went down to Joppa and found a ship bound for Tarshish. And he paid its fare, and he went down into it, in order to go with them to Tarshish from the face of the Lord.

4 But the Lord sent a great wind into the sea. And a great tempest took place in the sea, and the ship was in danger of being crushed.

5 And the mariners were afraid, and the men cried out to their god. And they threw the containers that were in the ship into the sea in order to lighten it of them. And Jonah went down into the interior of the ship, and he fell into a painful deep sleep.

6 And the helmsman approached him, and he said to him, “Why are you weighed down with sleep? Rise, call upon your God, so perhaps God will be mindful of us and we might not perish.”

7 And a man said to his shipmate, “Come, and let us cast lots, so that we may know why this disaster is upon us.” And they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah.

8 And they said to him: “Explain to us what is the reason that this disaster is upon us. What is your work? Which is your country? And where are you going? Or which people are you from?”

9 And he said to them, “I am Hebrew, and I fear the Lord God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land.”

10 And the men were greatly afraid, and they said to him, “Why have you done this?” (For the men knew that he was fleeing from the face of the Lord, because he had told them.)

11 And they said to him, “What are we to do with you, so that the sea will cease for us?” For the sea flowed and swelled.

12 And he said to them, “Take me, and cast me into the sea, and the sea will cease for you. For I know that it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you.”

13 And the men were rowing, so as to return to dry land, but they did not succeed. For the sea flowed and swelled against them.

14 And they cried out to the Lord, and they said, “We beseech you, Lord, do not let us perish for this man’s life, and do not attribute to us innocent blood. For you, Lord, have done just as it pleased you.”

15 And they took Jonah and cast him into the sea. And the sea was stilled from its fury.

16 And the men feared the Lord greatly, and they sacrificed victims to the Lord, and they made vows.

Jonah 2

1 And the Lord prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights.

2 And Jonah prayed to the Lord, his God, from the belly of the fish.

3 And he said: “I cried out to the Lord from my tribulation, and he heeded me. From the belly of hell, I cried out, and you heeded my voice.

4 And you have thrown me into the deep, in the heart of the sea, and a flood has encircled me. All your whirlpools and your waves have passed over me.

5 And I said: I am expelled from the sight of your eyes. Yet, truly, I will see your holy temple again.

6 The waters surrounded me, even to the soul. The abyss has walled me in. The ocean has covered my head.

7 I descended to the base of the mountains. The bars of the earth have enclosed me forever. And you will raise up my life from corruption, Lord, my God.

8 When my soul was in anguish within me, I called to mind the Lord, so that my prayer might come to you, to your holy temple.

9 Those who in vain observe vanities, abandon their own mercy.

10 But I, with a voice of praise, will sacrifice to you. I will repay whatever I have vowed to the Lord, because of my salvation.”

11 And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.

Jonah 3

1 And the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time, saying:

2 Rise, and go to Nineveh, the great city. And preach in it the preaching that I say to you.

3 And Jonah rose, and he went to Nineveh in accordance with the word of the Lord. And Nineveh was a great city of three days’ journey.

4 And Jonah began to enter into the city one day’s journey. And he cried out and said, “Forty days more and Nineveh shall be destroyed.”

5 And the men of Nineveh believed in God. And they proclaimed a fast, and they put on sackcloth, from the greatest all the way to the least.

6 And word reached the king of Nineveh. And he rose from his throne, and he threw off his robe from himself and was clothed in sackcloth, and he sat in ashes.

7 And he cried out and spoke: “In Nineveh, from the mouth of the king and of his princes, let it be said: Men and beasts and oxen and sheep may not taste anything. Neither shall they feed or drink water.

8 And let men and beasts be covered with sackcloth, and let them cry out to the Lord with strength, and may man be converted from his evil way, and from the iniquity that is in their hands.

9 Who knows if God may turn and forgive, and may turn away from his furious wrath, so that we might not perish?”

10 And God saw their works, that they had been converted from their evil way. And God took pity on them, concerning the harm that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Jonah 4

1 And Jonah was afflicted with a great affliction, and he was angry.

2 And he prayed to the Lord, and he said, “I beg you, Lord, was this not my word, when I was still in my own land? Because of this, I knew beforehand to flee into Tarshish. For I know that you are a lenient and merciful God, patient and great in compassion, and forgiving despite ill will.

3 And now, Lord, I ask you to take my life from me. For it is better for me to die than to live.”

4 And the Lord said, “Do you really think you are right to be angry?”

5 And Jonah went out of the city, and he sat opposite the east of the city. And he made himself a shelter there, and he was sitting under it in the shadow, until he might see what would befall the city.

6 And the Lord God prepared an ivy, and it ascended over the head of Jonah so as to be a shadow over his head, and to protect him (for he had labored hard). And Jonah rejoiced because of the ivy, with great rejoicing.

7 And God prepared a worm, when dawn approached on the next day, and it struck the ivy, and it dried up.

8 And when the sun had risen, the Lord ordered a hot and burning wind. And the sun beat down on the head of Jonah, and he burned. And he petitioned for his soul that he might die, and he said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”

9 And the Lord said to Jonah, “Do you really think that you are right to be angry because of the ivy?” And he said, “I am right to be angry even unto death.”

10 And the Lord said, “You grieve for the ivy, for which you have not labored and which you did not cause to grow, though it had been born during one night, and during one night perished.

11 And shall I not spare Nineveh, the great city, in which there are more than one hundred and twenty thousand men, who do not know the difference between their right and their left, and many beasts?”

Obadiah 1

1 The vision of Obadiah. Thus says the Lord God to Edom: We have heard a report from the Lord, and he has sent an envoy to the nations: “Arise, and let us together rise up in battle against him.”

2 Behold, I have made you little among the nations. You are greatly contemptible.

3 The arrogance of your heart has lifted you up, living in the clefts of the rocks, exalting your throne. You say in your heart, “Who will pull me down to the ground?”

4 Though you have been lifted high like an eagle, and though you have placed your nest among the stars, from there I will pull you down, says the Lord.

5 If thieves had approached you, if robbers by night, how would you have remained unnoticed? Would they not have stolen all that they wanted? If the grape-pickers had approached you, would they not have left you at least a cluster?

6 In what way have they been examining Esau? They investigated his secrets.

7 They have sent you out all the way to the limit. All the men of your alliance have deceived you. Your men of peace have prevailed against you. Those who eat with you will place snares under you. There is no foresight in him.

8 Shall I not, in that day, says the Lord, wipe away understanding from Idumea and foresight from the mount of Esau?

9 And your strong from the Meridian will be afraid, so that man may perish from the mount of Esau.

10 Because of the execution, and because of the iniquity against your brother Jacob, confusion will cover you, and you will pass away into eternity.

11 In the day when you stood against him, when strangers seized his army, and foreigners entered into his gates, and they cast lots over Jerusalem: you also were just like one of them.

12 But you shall not show disdain for the day of your brother in the day of his sojourn. And you shall not rejoice over the sons of Judah in the day of their perdition. And you shall not magnify your mouth in the day of anguish.

13 And neither shall you enter into the gate of my people in the day of their ruin. And neither shall you also show disdain for his troubles in the day of his desolation. And you shall not send out against his army in the day of his desolation.

14 Neither shall you stand at the exits to execute those who will flee. And you shall not enclose their remnant in the day of tribulation.

15 For the day of the Lord is near, over all nations. Just as you have done, so will it be done to you. He will turn back your retribution on your own head.

16 For in the manner that you drank on my holy mountain, so shall all nations drink continually. And they will drink, and they will absorb, and they will be as if they were not.

17 And on mount Zion there will be salvation, and it will be holy. And the house of Jacob will possess those who had possessed them.

18 And the house of Jacob will be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame, and the house of Esau stubble. And they will be set on fire among them, and they will devour them. And there will be no remnant of the house of Esau, for the Lord has spoken.

19 And those who are towards the South, and who are in the camps of the Philistines, will inherit the mount of Esau. And they will possess the region of Ephraim, and the region of Samaria. And Benjamin will possess Gilead.

20 And the exiles of this army of the sons of Israel, all the places of the Canaanites all the way to Sarepta, and the exiles of Jerusalem who are in Bosphoro, will possess the cities of the South.

21 And the saviors will ascend to mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau. And the kingdom will be for the Lord.

Amos 1

1 The words of Amos, who was among the shepherds of Tekoa, which he saw about Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.

2 And he said: The Lord will roar from Zion, and from Jerusalem he will utter his voice. And the beautiful pastures have mourned, and the top of Carmel has become dry.

3 Thus says the Lord: For three wicked deeds of Damascus, and for four, I will not convert it, in so far as they have threshed Gilead into iron wagons.

4 And I will send fire onto the house of Hazael, and it will devour the houses of Ben-hadad.

5 And I will shatter the crowbar of Damascus, and I will destroy the inhabitants of the camp of the idol and the holder of the scepter of the house of pleasure; and the people of Syria will be transferred to Cyrene, says the Lord.

6 Thus says the Lord: For three wicked deeds of Gaza, and for four, I will not convert it, in so far as they have carried out an excellent captivity, so as to enclose them in Idumea.

7 And I will send a fire onto the wall of Gaza, and it will devour its buildings.

8 And I will destroy the inhabitant from Ashdod, and the holder of the scepter of Ashkelon. And I will turn my hand against Ekron, and the remainder of the Philistines will perish, says the Lord God.

9 Thus says the Lord: For three wicked deeds of Tyre, and for four, I will not convert it, in so far as they have completed an excellent captivity in Idumea and have not considered the bond among brothers.

10 And I will send a fire onto the wall of Tyre, and it will devour its buildings.

11 Thus says the Lord: For three wicked deeds of Edom, and for four, I will not convert him, in so far as he has been pursuing his brother with the sword and has outraged his brother’s compassion, and he has gone beyond his anger and has held onto his indignation until the end.

12 I will send a fire onto Teman, and it will devour the buildings of Bozrah.

13 Thus says the Lord: For three wicked deeds of the sons of Ammon, and for four, I will not convert him, in so far as he has cut up the pregnant women of Gilead, so as to expand his limits.

14 And I will ignite a fire on the wall of Rabbah. And it will devour its buildings, with wailing on the day of war, and with a whirlwind on the day of commotion.

15 And Melchom will go into captivity, he and his leaders together, says the Lord.

Amos 2

1 Thus says the Lord: For three wicked deeds of Moab, and for four, I will not convert him, in so far as he has burned the bones of the king of Idumea, all the way to ashes.

2 And I will send a fire onto Moab, and it will devour the buildings of Kerioth. And Moab will die with a noise, with the blare of a trumpet.

3 And I will destroy the judge in their midst, and I will execute all his leaders with him, says the Lord.

4 Thus says the Lord: For three wicked deeds of Judah, and for four, I will not convert him, in so far as he has rejected the law of the Lord and has not kept his commandments. For their idols, which their fathers followed, have deceived them.

5 And I will send a fire onto Judah, and it will devour the buildings of Jerusalem.

6 Thus says the Lord: For three wicked deeds of Israel, and for four, I will not convert him, in so far as he has sold the just for silver and the poor for shoes.

7 They grind the heads of the poor into the dust of the earth, and they divert the way of the humble. And the son, as well as his father, have gone to the same girl, so that they outrage my holy name.

8 And they have lain on garments taken in pledge next to every altar. And they drank the wine of the damned in the house of their God.

9 Yet I exterminated the Amorites before their face, whose height was like the height of cedars, and whose strength was like the oak. And I crushed his fruit from above and his roots below.

10 It is I who caused you to ascend from the land of Egypt, and I led you in the wilderness for forty years, so that you might possess the land of the Amorite.

11 And I stirred up prophets from your sons, and Nazirites from your young men. Is it not so, sons of Israel, says the Lord?

12 Yet you would offer wine to the Nazirites, and you would command the prophets, saying: “Do not prophesy.”

13 Behold, I will creak under you, just as a wagon creaks that is laden with hay.

14 And flight will perish from the swift, and the strong will not maintain his strength, and the healthy will not save his life.

15 And one holding the bow will not stand firm, and the swift of foot will not be saved, and the rider on the horse will not save his life.

16 And the stout of heart among the strong will flee away naked in that day, says the Lord.

Amos 3

1 Listen to the word which the Lord has spoken about you, sons of Israel, concerning the whole family that I led out of the land of Egypt, saying:

2 I have known only you in such a way, out of all the families of the earth. For this reason, I will visit upon you all your iniquities.

3 Will two walk together, unless they have agreed to do so?

4 Will a lion roar in the forest, unless he has prey? Will the lion’s young cry out from his den, unless he has taken something?

5 Will a bird fall into a snare on the ground, if there is no bird-catcher? Will a snare be taken away from the ground, before it has caught something?

6 Will the trumpet sound in a city, and the people not become frightened? Will there be disaster in a city, which the Lord has not done?

7 For the Lord God does not fulfill his word, unless he has revealed his secret to his servants the prophets.

8 The lion will roar, who will not fear? The Lord God has spoken, who will not prophesy?

9 Let it be heard in the buildings of Ashdod and in the buildings of the land of Egypt, and say: Gather together across the mountains of Samaria, and see the many absurdities in its midst, and those who are suffering false accusations in its inner most places.

10 And they do not know how to make it right, says the Lord, storing up iniquity and plunder in their buildings.

11 Because of these things, thus says the Lord God: The land will be encircled and squeezed together. And your strength will be drawn away from you, and your buildings will be torn apart.

12 Thus says the Lord: Just as if a shepherd had rescued two legs from the mouth of a lion, or the tip of an ear, so also will the sons of Israel be rescued, who dwell in the sick bed of Samaria, and in the cot of Damascus.

13 Listen and give testimony in the house of Jacob, says the Lord God of hosts:

14 that in the day, when I will begin to visit the betrayals of Israel, I will visit upon him and upon the altars of Bethel. And the horns of the altars will be cut off and will fall to the ground.

15 And I will strike the winter house with the summer house; and the houses of ivory will perish, and many buildings will be torn apart, says the Lord.