Micah 1

1The word of the Lord that came^a to Micah^b the Moreshite^c—what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem in the days of Jotham,^d Ahaz,^e and Hezekiah,^f kings of Judah.

COMING JUDGMENT ON ISRAEL

²Listen, all you peoples;^g

pay attention, earth^A and everyone in it!^h

The Lord God will be a witness against you,ⁱ

the Lord, from his holy temple.^j

³Look, the Lord is leaving his place^k

and coming down to trample

the heights^B of the earth.^l

⁴The mountains will melt beneath him,

and the valleys will split apart,

like wax near a fire,^m

like water cascading down a mountainside.

⁵All this will happen because of Jacob’s rebellion

and the sins of the house of Israel.

What is the rebellion of Jacob?

Isn’t it Samaria?ⁿ

And what is the high place of Judah?^o

Isn’t it Jerusalem?

⁶Therefore, I will make Samaria

a heap of ruins^p in the countryside,

a planting area^q for a vineyard.

I will roll her stones^r into the valley

and expose her foundations.^s

⁷All her carved images will be smashed^t to pieces;

all her wages^u will be burned in the fire,

and I will destroy all her idols.

Since she collected the wages of a prostitute,^v

they will be used again for a prostitute.

MICAH’S LAMENT

⁸Because of this I will lament and wail;

I will walk barefoot and naked.^w

I will howl like the jackals^x

and mourn like ostriches.^C

⁹For her wound is incurable^y

and has reached even Judah;^z

it has approached my people’s city gate,^aa

as far as Jerusalem.

¹⁰Don’t announce it in Gath,^ab

don’t weep at all.

Roll in the dust in Beth-leaphrah.

¹¹Depart in shameful nakedness,^ac

you residents of Shaphir;

the residents of Zaanan^ad will not come out.

Beth-ezel is lamenting;

its support^D is taken from you.

¹²Though the residents of Maroth

anxiously wait for something good,^ae

disaster has come from the Lord^af

to the gate of Jerusalem.

¹³Harness the horses to the chariot,

you residents of Lachish.^ag

This was the beginning of sin for Daughter Zion

because Israel’s acts of rebellion^ah can be traced to you.

¹⁴Therefore, send farewell gifts^ai to Moresheth-gath;

the houses of Achzib^aj are a deception^ak

to the kings of Israel.

¹⁵I will again bring a conqueror

against you who live in Mareshah.^al

The nobility^A of Israel will come to Adullam.^am

¹⁶Shave yourselves bald and cut off your hair^an

in sorrow for your precious children;

make yourselves as bald as an eagle,

for they have been taken from you into exile.^ao