Micah

Micah was a contemporary of Isaiah and spoke to a people whose leaders, priests and prophets charged for what they should have done freely. The book alternates denunciation and hope in short blocks. Two passages became famous: the prophecy that from Bethlehem, small among the clans of Judah, would come the one to rule Israel — quoted in Matthew at the visit of the wise men — and the summary of what God asks, in chapter 6: to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God. That last line is probably the best one-sentence summary of biblical ethics, and it is still quoted in contexts far beyond religion.