So Ionah was exceeding glad of the gourd. But God prepared a
worme when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the
gourd that it withered. And it came to passe when the Sunne did
arise, that God prepared a vehement East wind; and the Sunne
beat upon the head of Ionah, that hee fainted, and wished in him-
selfe to die, and said, it is better for me to die, then to live. And
God said to Ionah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd?
and he said, I doe well to be angry, even unto death. Then said
the LORD, Thou hast had pitie on the gourde, for the which
thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow, which came
up in a night, and perished in a night: (and should not I spare
Nineveh that great citie, wherein are more then sixscore
thousand persons, that cannot discerne betweene their
right hand and their left hand, and also
much cattell?

CHAPTER

IIII

MICAH

CHAPTER I

For

HE word of the LORD that came to Micah the Micah sheweth Morasthite in the dayes of Iotham, Ahaz, and the wrath of God against Hezekiah Kings of Iudah, which hee saw con- Iacob, for cerning Samaria and Ierusalem. Heare all ye idolatry. people, hearken O earth, and all that therein is, and let the Lord God be witnesse against you, the Lord from his holy temple. behold, the LORD commeth forth out of his place, and will come downe and tread upon the high places of the earth. And the mountaines shall be molten under him, and the valleis shall be cleft: as waxe before the fire, and as the waters that are powred downe a steepe place. For the transgression of Iacob is all this, and for the sinnes of the house of Israel: What is the transgression of Iacob? Is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Iudah? are they not Ierusalem ? Therfore I will make Samaria as an heape of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard; and I will powre downe the stones therof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof. And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the 4: SS 321

CHAPTER

I

Hee exhorteth to mourning.

Against oppression.

A lamentation.

hires thereof shall be burnt with the fire, and all the idoles therof will I lay desolate : for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall returne to the hire of an harlot. Therfore I wil waile and houle, I will goe stript and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owles. For her wound is incurable, for it is come unto Iudah: he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Ierusalem.

Declare yee it not at Gath, weepe yee not at all: In the house of Aphrah1 rowle thy selfe in the dust. Passe yee away thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked; the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Beth-ezel, he shall receive of you his standing. For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good, but evill came downe from the LORD unto the gate of Ierusalem. O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the charet to the swift beast: she is the beginning of the sinne to the daughter of Zion: for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee. Therfore shalt thou give presents to Moresheth-Gath: the houses of Achzib2 shalbe a lie to the kings of Israel. Yet wil I bring an heire unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam, the glory of Israel. Make thee bald, and polle thee for thy delicate children, enlarge thy baldnesse as the Eagle, for they are gone into captivitie from thee.

W

CHAPTER II

OE to them that devise iniquitie, and worke evill 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 take them by violence: and houses, and take them away: so they oppresse a man and his house, even a man and his heritage. Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, against this familie doe I devise an evill, from which ye shall not remove your necks, neither shall ye goe haughtily: for this time is evill.

In that day shall one take up a parable against you, and lament with a dolefull lamentation, and say, We be utterly spoiled: hee hath changed the portion of my people: how hath he removed it from me? turning away hee hath divided our fields. Therefore thou shalt have none that shall cast a cord by lot in the Congregation of the LORD. Prophecie ye not, say they, to them that prophecie: they shall not prophecie to them, that they shall not take shame.

O thou that art named the house of Iacob, is the Spirit of the
1 That is, dust.
2 That is, a lie.

Arise ye

CHAPTER

idolatrie.

II

LORD straitned? are these his doings? doe not my words do good to him that walketh uprightly? Even of late, my people is risen up as an enemie: ye pull off the robe with the garment, from them A reproofe of that passe by securely, as men averse from warre. The women iniustice and of my people have ye cast out from their pleasant houses, from their children have ye taken away my glory for ever. and depart, for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you even with a sore destruction. If a man walking in the spirit and falshood, doe lie, saying, I will prophecie unto thee of wine and of strong drinke, he shall even bee the prophet of this people.

I will surely assemble, O Iacob, all of thee: I will surely gather A promise of the remnant of Israel, I will put them together as the sheepe of restoring Iacob. Bozrah, as the flocke in the midst of their fold: they shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. The breaker is come up before them: they have broken up and have passed through the gate, and are gone out by it, and their king shal passe before them, and the LORD on the head of them.

A

CHAPTER III

ND I said, Heare, I pray you, O heads of Iacob, and ye The crueltie of princes of the house of Israel: is it not for you to know the Princes. iudgement? who hate the good and love the evill, who plucke off their skinne from off them, and their flesh from off their bones. Who also eate the flesh of my people, and flay their skinne from off them, and they breake their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the cauldron. Then shall they cry unto the LORD, but he will not heare them: he will even hide his face from them at that time, as they have behaved themselves ill in their doings.

Thus saith the LORD concerning the Prophets that make my The falshood people erre, that bite with their teeth and crie; Peace: and he of the Prophets. that putteth not into their mouths, they even prepare warre against him: therefore night shall be unto you, that yee shall not have a vision, and it shall be darke unto you, that yee shall not divine, and the Sunne shall goe downe over the Prophets, and the day shall be darke over them. Then shall the seers be ashamed, and the diviners confounded: yea, they shall all cover their lips, for there is no answere of God.

But truely I am full of power by the spirit of the LORD, and of The security iudgment and of might, to declare unto Iacob his transgression, of them both. and to Israel his sinne. Heare this, I pray you, yee heads of the

CHAPTER
III

The Glory,

Peace,

Kingdome,

house of Iacob, and princes of the house of Israel, that abhorre iudgement and pervert all equitie. They build up Zion with blood, and Ierusalem with iniquitie. The heads thereof iudge for reward, and the priests thereof teach for hyre, and the Prophets thereof divine for money: yet will they leane upon the LORD, and say; Is not the LORD among us? none evill can come upon us. Therefore shall Zion for your sake be plowed as a field, and Ierusalem shal become heapes, and the mountaine of the house, as the high places of the forrest.

Β'

CHAPTER IIII

UT in the last dayes it shal come to passe, that the mountaine of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountaines, and it shalbe exalted above the hilles, and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say; Come, and let us goe up to the mountaine of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Iacob, and he will teach us of his wayes, and wee will walke in his pathes: for the Law shall goe foorth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Ierusalem.

And he shall iudge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afarre off, and they shall beate their swords into plowshares, and their speares into pruning-hookes: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learne warre any more. But they shall sit every man under his Vine, and under his figgetree, and none shal make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hostes hath spoken it. For all people will walke every one in the name of his god, and we will walke in the Name of the LORD our God for ever and ever. 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. And I will make her that halted, a remnant; and her that was cast farre off, a strong nation; and the LORD shall reigne over them, in Mount Zion from hencefoorth, even for ever.

And thou, O towre of the flock, the strong hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion, the kingdome shall come to the daughter of Ierusalem. Now why doest thou cry out alowd? is there no king in thee? is thy counseller perished? for pangs have taken thee, as a woman in travell. Bee in paine and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travell: for now shalt thou goe foorth out of the citie, and thou shalt dwel in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon: there shalt thou be delivered: there the LORD shall redeeme thee from the hand of thine enemies.

CHAPTER
IIII

Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion. But they know not the thoughts of the LORD, neither understand they his counsell and Victorie for hee shall gather them as the sheaves into the floore. Arise and of the Church. thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horne yron,

:

and I will make thy hooves brasse, and thou shalt beat in pieces

:

many people and I will consecrate their gaine unto the LORD, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.

CHAPTER V

TOW gather thy selfe in troupes, O daughter of troupes: he The birth

hath laid siege against us: they shal smite the fudge of of Christ. Israel with a rod upon the cheeke. But thou Beth-leem Ephratah, though thou bee little among the thousands of Iudah, yet out of thee shall he come foorth unto mee, that is to be ruler in Israel: whose goings foorth have bene from of old, from everlasting. Therefore will hee give them up, untill the time that shee which travaileth, hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall returne unto the children of Israel.

And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the His Kingdome. Maiestie of the Name of the LORD his God, and they shall abide : for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth. And this man shall bee the peace when the Assyrian shall come into our land: and when hee shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven Shepheards, and eight principall men. And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall hee deliver us from the Assyrian, when he commeth into our land, and when hee treadeth within our borders. And the remnant of Iacob shall be in the midst of many people, as a dew from the LORD, as the showres upon the grasse that tarieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sonnes of men.

And the remnant of Iacob shal be among the Gentiles in the His conquest. middest of many people, as a Lyon among the beasts of the forrest, as a yong Lyon among the flockes of sheepe: who if he goe through, both treadeth downe, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver. Thine hand shall be lift up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shalbe cut off. And it shall come to passe in that day, sayth the LORD, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy charets. And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and throw downe all thy strong holdes. And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand,