Micah 1:8–16

^8–9This is why I lament and mourn.

This is why I go around in rags and barefoot.

This is why I howl like a pack of coyotes,

and moan like a mournful owl in the night.

God has inflicted punishing wounds;

Judah has been wounded with no healing in sight.

Judgment has marched through the city gates.

Jerusalem must face the charges.

^10–16Don’t gossip about this in Telltown.

Don’t waste your tears.

In Dustville,

roll in the dust.

In Alarmtown,

the alarm is sounded.

The citizens of Exitburgh

will never get out alive.

Lament, Last-Stand City:

There’s nothing in you left standing.

The villagers of Bittertown

wait in vain for sweet peace.

Harsh judgment has come from God

and entered Peace City.

All you who live in Chariotville,

get in your chariots for flight.

You led the daughter of Zion

into trusting not God but chariots.

Similar sins in Israel

also got their start in you.

Go ahead and give your good-bye gifts

to Good-byeville.

Miragetown beckoned

but disappointed Israel’s kings.

Inheritance City

has lost its inheritance.

Glorytown

has seen its last of glory.

Shave your heads in mourning

over the loss of your precious towns.

Go bald as a goose egg—they’ve gone

into exile and aren’t coming back.