The Tetragrammaton  =  hwhy = YaHuWaH

Dating from 742 B.C.E., just 20 years prior to the Northern Kingdom’s final deportation, Mikhah prophesies from the Southern Kingdom of Yahuwdah in the face of the North’s impending dispersion. Short for MikhaYahuw (1 Kings 22; 2 Chron. 18), his name means “Who is like YaHuWaH?” Though undoubtedly considered a fool in his own days, his words were remembered after his death (YirmeYahuw 26:18), and the fact that some of them had already proven true and that they agreed with what YirmeYahuw was saying is what saved YirmeYahuw’s life and earned him better treatment from the wise rulers of his day. (Josephus, Antiquities, 10:6:2) He addresses the corruption, injustice, and most of all, the unfaithfulness to YaHuWaH that lay behind it all.

MiykahYahuw  (742 - 687 B.C.E.)

1:1 The word of  YaHuWaH  that came to MiykahYahuw the Morashtite in the days of Yahuwtham, Achaz, and ChizqiYahuw, kings of Yahuwdah, which he saw concerning Shomeron and Yahrushalom.

1:2 Hear, you peoples, all of you. Listen, O earth, and all that is therein: and let the Master YaHuWaH be witness against you, the Master from His set-apart Hekal.

1:3 For, behold, YaHuWaH comes forth out of His place, and will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.

1:4 The mountains melt under Him, and the valleys split apart, like wax before the fire, like waters that are poured down a steep place.

1:5 “All this is for the disobedience of Ya'aqob, and for the sins of the House of Ysra'al.

What is the disobedience of Ya'aqob? Isn’t it Shomeron?  And what are the high places (cultic platforms) of Yahuwdah? Aren’t they in Yahrushalom?

1:6 Therefore I will make Shomeron like a rubble heap of the field, like places for planting vineyards; and I will pour down its stones into the valley, and I will uncover its foundations.

Shomeron was the last bastion of the Northern Kingdom to fall in 722 B.C.E.

1:7 All her idols will be beaten to pieces, and all her gifts will be burned with fire, and all her images I will destroy; for of the hire of a prostitute has she gathered them, and to the hire of a prostitute shall they return.”

The prostitute/whore is a code name for Babel and her daughters (Rev. 17:5), the system that changed headquarters many times thereafter. It has a particular application to the established religious institution that links itself with Gentile governments for its own advantage.

1:8 For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will howl like the jackals, and moan like the daughters of owls.

1:9 For her wounds are incurable; for it has come even to Yahuwdah. It reaches to the gate of my people, even to Yahrushalom.

1:10 Don’t tell it in Gath. Don’t weep at all. At Bayith Aphrah I have rolled myself in the dust.

1:11 Pass on, inhabitant of Shaphiyr, in nakedness and shame. The inhabitant of Tsa'anan won’t come out. The wailing of Bayith Etzel will take from you his protection.

1:12 For the inhabitant of Marowth waits anxiously for good, because evil has come down from YaHuWaH to the gate of Yahrushalom.

1:13 Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitant of Lachiysh. She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Tsiyown; For the transgressions of Ysra'al were found in you.

1:14 Therefore you will give a parting gift to Morashtiy Gath. The houses of Akhziyb will be a deceitful thing to the kings of Ysra'al.

1:15 I will yet bring to you, inhabitant of Mar'eshah. He Who is the esteem of Ysra'al will come to Adullam.

 [Adullam: site of a cave where Dawiyd hid (1 Shmuel 22-23) in the lowlands of Yahudah; its name means “justice of the people”]

1:16 Shave your heads, and cut off your hair for the children of your delight. Enlarge your baldness like the vulture; for they have gone into captivity from you!

2:1 Woe to those who devise iniquity and work evil on their beds! When the morning is light, they practice it, because it is in the power of their hand.

2:2 They covet fields, and seize them; and houses, and take them away: and they oppress a man and his house, even a man and his heritage.

[Since this is addressed to the Northern Kingdom, this is probably a specific allusion to Ahab and Iyzabel (Jezebel), especially since Ahab specifically lay on his bed (v. 1) when he could not get his way in regard to Naboth’s vineyard, which he coveted. (1 Kings 21:4)]

2:3 Therefore thus says YaHuWaH: “Behold, I am planning against these people a disaster, from which you will not remove your necks, neither will you walk haughtily; for it is an evil time.

2:4 In That Day they will take up a parable against you, and lament with a doleful lamentation, saying, ‘We are utterly ruined! My people’s possession is divided up. Indeed he takes it from me and assigns our fields to traitors!’”

2:5 Therefore you will have no one who divides the land by lot in the assembly of YaHuWaH. [Dan. 12:13]

2:6 “Don’t prophesy!” They prophesy. “Don’t prophesy about these things. Disgrace won’t overtake us.”

2:7 Shall it be said, O House of Ya'aqob: “Is the Ruwach of YaHuWaH angry? Are these His doings? Don’t My words do good to him who walks blamelessly?”

2:8 But lately My people have risen up as an enemy. You strip the robe and clothing from those who pass by without a care, returning from battle.

2:9 You drive the women of My people out from their pleasant houses; from their young children you take away My blessing forever.

2:10 Arise, and depart! For this is not your resting place, because of uncleanness that destroys, even with a grievous destruction.

2:11 If a man walking in a ruwach of falsehood lies: “I will prophesy to you of wine and of strong drink;” he would be the prophet of this people.

2:12 I will surely gather all of you , O Ya'aqob; I shall bring together the remnant of Ysra'al;  put them together like sheep of the fold, like a flock in the midst of their pasture; they being noisy because of men.

2:13 The breach-maker shall go up before them. They shall break out, and pass through the gate, and go out by it, and their Sovereign shall pass before them, with YaHuWaH at their head.

3:1 I said, “Please listen, you heads of Ya'aqob, and rulers of the House of Ysra'al: Isn’t it for you to know justice?

3:2 You who hate the good, and love the evil; who tear off their skin, and their flesh from off their bones;

3:3 who also eat the flesh of My people, and flay their skin from off them, and break their bones, and chop them in pieces, as for the pot, and as flesh within the caldron.

[I.e., they were as greedy as could be, searching out any way to get into people’s pockets. And in doing so they removed the covering that bound the people together as one unit. These may sound like “psychic hotlines”, but we must not overlook the application to preachers who use pressure tactics to get people to give them more than they are able, so that their ministry instead evolves into a way to earn as much as possible:]

3:4 Then they will cry to YaHuWaH, but He will not answer them. Yes, He will hide His Face from them at that time, because they made their deeds evil.”

(For Elohiym Who said, Let there be Light in the darkness, has made us believe that this Light is the Brightness of His Splendor as seen in the Face of YaHuWSHuWaH ha Mashiyach. 2 Cor. 4:6)

3:5 Thus says YaHuWaH concerning the prophets who lead My people astray; for those who feed their teeth, they proclaim, “Shalom!” and whoever doesn’t provide for their mouths, they prepare war against him:

3:6 “Therefore night is over you, with no vision, and it is dark to you, that you may not divine; and the sun will go down on the prophets, and the day will be black over them.

3:7 The seers shall be disappointed, and the diviners confounded. Yes, they shall all cover their lips; for there is no answer from Aluahiym.”

3:8 But as for me, I am full of Power by the Ruwach of YaHuWaH, and of judgment, and of might, to declare to Ya'aqob his disobedience, and to Ysra'al his sin.

3:9 Please listen to this, you heads of the House of Ya'aqob, and rulers of the House of Ysra'al, who abhor justice, and pervert all equity.

3:10 They build up Tsiyown with blood, and Yahrushalom with iniquity.

3:11 Her leaders judge for bribes, and her priests teach for a price, and her prophets of it tell fortunes for money: yet they lean on YaHuWaH, and say, “Isn’t YaHuWaH  in the midst of us? ("In g_d we trust")  No disaster will come on us.”

3:12 Therefore Tsiyown for your sake will be plowed like a field, and Yahrushalom will become heaps of rubble, and the Mount of the House will be given over to pagan worship-sites like those in the forest.

 [the Dome of the Rock ... in Yahrushalom today. ... as well as the many chr_istian temples and churches scattered over the city]

4:1 But in the latter days, it will happen that the mountain of YaHuWaH’s House will be established on the top of the mountains, and it will be exalted above the hills; and peoples will stream to it.

4:2 Many nations will go and say, “Come, and let us go up to the Mountain of YaHuWaH, and to the House of the Aluahiym of Ya'aqob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.” For out of Tsiyown will go forth the Torah, and the Word of YaHuWaH (YaHuWSHuWaH) from Yahrushalom;

4:3 and He will judge between many peoples, and will decide concerning strong nations afar off. They will beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more.

4:4 But they will sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and no one will make them afraid: 

YaHuWSHuWaH alluded to this verse in Yahuwchanan 1:48-50. By saying He had seen Nathan’el “under the fig tree”, it told Nathan’el that He would be there when this time of peace comes, and that Yahuwshuwah would be the Maschiach who would sit on the throne in that Kingdom.

For the mouth of YaHuWaH Master of Armies has spoken. 

4:5 Indeed all the nations may walk in the name of their mighty ones; but we will walk in the Name of YaHuWaH our Aluahiym into the ages and beyond.

4:6 “In that Day,” says YaHuWaH, “I will assemble that which is lame, and I will gather that which is driven away, and that which I have afflicted;

4:7 and I will make that which was lame a remnant, and that which was cast far off (hala - only time used in the TaNaK) a strong nation: and YaHuWaH will reign over them on Mount Tsiyown from then on, even into the Ages.” (vs. 1-7 are Millennial times)

4:8 You, tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Tsiyown, to you it will come, Daughter: an idiom for a suburb or one of the hills that surrounds the city. yes, the former dominion will come, the kingdom of the daughter of Yahrushalom.

4:9 Now why do you cry out aloud?  Is there no sovereign in you? Has your counselor perished, that pains have taken hold of you as of a woman in travail?

 The theme of birth bears out that this is speaking of the Maschiach’s birthplace. But it also bespeaks the birthpangs of the New Man (Eph. 2:15) of which the Maschiach is but the Head, and which will bring both parts of Ysra'al back together as one.

4:10 Be in pain, and labor to bring forth, daughter of Tsiyown, like a woman in travail; for now you will go forth out of the city, and will dwell in the field, and will come even to Babel. There you will begin to be delivered [by being snatched out]. [YashaYahuw 27:12-13]

There YaHuWaH will redeem you from the hand of your enemies.

4:11 Now many nations have assembled against you, that say, “Let her be defiled, and let our eye gloat over Tsiyown.”

4:12 But they don’t know the thoughts of YaHuWaH, neither do they understand His counsel;

for He has gathered them like the sheaves to the threshing floor.

  I.e., YaHuWaH has lured them with the bait of Yahrushalom to be all brought together into one place so He can destroy them all in one easy step. (Z’kharyah 14; Ps. 92:7) For them it will be the opposite of birth pangs.

4:13 Arise and thresh, daughter of Tsiyown; for I will make your horn iron, and I will make your hoofs brass; and you will pulverize many peoples: and I will devote their gain to YaHuWaH, and their substance to the Master of the Whole Earth (Zech. 3:14).

 Horn of iron, hoofs of brass: idioms for ironclad, unquestionable authority. Pulverize: like Nevukhadnetzar’s statue (Dan. 2:34-35).

5:1 Now you have been raided, daughter of raiders, a siege has been laid against us. They will strike the Law-giver of Ysra'al with a rod on the cheek.

5:2 But you, Bayith Lechem Ephrathah, are not to be lightly esteemed among the thousands of Yahuwdah: from out of you One shall come forth to Me the One to become Ruler in Ysra'al; Whose goings forth are from of ancient times, from everlasting.

5:3 Therefore He will give them up, until the time that she who is in labor gives birth; (during the Great Oppression) then the remnant of His brothers will return to the children of Ysra'al.  

[Revelation 12:5  She gave birth to a son, a male child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron. Her child was caught up to YaHuWaH, and to His throne.]

5:4 Then He shall stand, and shall shepherd them in the strength of YaHuWaH, in the majesty of the Name of YaHuWaH His Aluahiym: and they will live, for then He will be great to the ends of the earth.

5:5 He will be our peace when Ashshuwr invades our land, and when he marches through our fortresses, then we will raise against him seven shepherds, and eight leaders of men.

5:6 They will waste the land of Ashshuwr with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in its gates.

He will deliver us from Ashshuwr, [by snatching us away] when he invades our land, and when he marches within our border.

5:7 The remnant of Ya'aqob will be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from YaHuWaH, like showers on the grass, that don’t wait for man, nor wait for the sons of men.

5:8 The remnant of Ya'aqob will be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep; who, if he goes through, treads down and tears in pieces, and there is no one to deliver.

5:9 Let your hand be lifted up above your adversaries, and let all of your enemies be cut off.

5:10 “It will happen in that Day,” says YaHuWaH, “That I will cut off your horses out of the midst of you, and will destroy your chariots.

5:11 I will cut off the cities of your land, and will tear down all your strongholds.

5:12 I will destroy witchcraft from your hand; and you shall have no soothsayers.

5:13 I will cut off your engraved images and your pillars out of your midst; and you shall no more worship the work of your hands.

5:14 I will uproot your Asherim out of your midst; and I will destroy your cities.

5:15 I will execute vengeance in anger, and wrath on the nations that didn’t listen.”

6:1 Listen now to what YaHuWaH says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say.

6:2 Hear, you mountains, YaHuWaH’s controversy, and you enduring foundations of the earth; for YaHuWaH has a controversy with His people, and He will contend with Ysra'al.

6:3 My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me!

6:4 For I brought you up out of the land of Mitsrayim, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage. I sent before you Moshah, Aharown, and Miryam.

6:5 My people, remember now what Balaq sovereign of Mow'ab devised, and what Bil'am the son of Be'owr answered him from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of YaHuWaH.”

6:6 How shall I come before YaHuWaH, and bow myself before the exalted Aluahiym? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?

6:7 Will YaHuWaH be pleased with thousands of rams? With tens of thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my disobedience? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. What does YaHuWaH  require of you, but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your Aluahiym?

6:9  YaHuWaH’s Voice calls to the city, and Wisdom sees your name: “Listen to the rod, and He who appointed it.

6:10 Are there yet treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and a short efah that is accursed?

6:11 Shall I be pure with dishonest scales, and with a bag of deceitful weights?

6:12 Her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their speech.

6:13 Therefore I also have struck you with a grievous wound. I have made you desolate because of your sins.

6:14 You shall eat, but not be satisfied. Your humiliation will be in your midst. You will store up, but not save; and that which you save I will give up to the sword.

6:15 You will sow, but won’t reap. You will tread the olives, but won’t anoint yourself with oil; and crush grapes, but won’t drink the wine.

6:16 For the statutes of Omriy are kept, and all the works of the house of Ach'ab.

You walk in their counsels, that I may make you a ruin, and her inhabitants a hissing; And you will bear the reproach of My people.”

7:1 Misery is mine! Indeed, I am like one who gathers the summer fruits, as gleanings of the vineyard:There is no cluster of grapes to eat. My soul desires to eat the early fig.

7:2 The righteous man has perished out of the earth, and there is no one upright among men.

They all lie in wait for blood; every man hunts his brother with a net.

7:3 Their hands are on that which is evil to do it diligently. The ruler and judge ask for a bribe; and the powerful man dictates the evil desire of his soul. Thus they conspire together.

7:4 The best of them is like a brier. The most upright is worse than a thorn hedge. The day of your watchmen, even your visitation, has come; now is the time of their confusion.

7:5 Don’t trust in a neighbor. Don’t put confidence in a friend. With the woman lying in your embrace, be careful of the words of your mouth!

7:6 For the son dishonors the father, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.

7:7 But as for me, I will look to YaHuWaH. I will wait for the Aluahiym of my deliverance. My Aluahiym will hear me.

7:8 Don’t rejoice against me, my enemy. When I fall, I will arise. When I sit in darkness, YaHuWaH will be a Light to me.

7:9 I will bear the indignation of YaHuWaH, because I have sinned against Him, until He pleads my case, and executes right-ruling, until He will brings me  into the light and I look on His Righteousness.

7:10 Then my enemy will see it, and shame will cover her who said to me, where is YaHuWaH your Aluahiym? Then my enemy will see me and will cover her shame. Now she will be trodden down like the mire of the streets.

7:11 A day to build your walls— In that Day, He will extend your boundary.

7:12 In that Day they will come to you from Ashshuwr and the cities of Mitsrayim, and from Mitsrayim even to the River, and from sea to sea, and mountain to mountain.

7:13 Yet the Land will be desolate because of those who dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.

7:14 Shepherd Your people with Your staff, the flock of Your heritage, who dwell by themselves in a forest, in the midst of fertile pasture land, let them feed; in Bashan and Gil'ad, as in the days of old.

7:15 “As in the days of your coming forth out of the land of Mitsrayim, I will show them marvelous things.”

7:16 The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might. They will lay their hand on their mouth. Their ears will be deaf.

7:17 They will lick the dust like a serpent. Like crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their dens. They will come with fear to YaHuWaH our Aluahiym, and will be afraid because of You.

7:18 Who is an Aluahiym like You, Who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of His heritage? He doesn’t retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving kindness.

7:19 He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot; and You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.

7:20 You will give truth to Ya'aqob, and mercy to Abraham, as You have sworn to our fathers from the days of old.