Micah 1–3

1A message came to Micah from the Lord. He was from the town of Moresheth. The message came while Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were kings of Judah. This is the vision Micah saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Here is what he said.

²Listen to me, all of you nations!

Earth and everyone who lives in it, pay attention!

The Lord and King will be a witness against you.

The Lord will speak from his holy temple in heaven.

The Lord Will Judge Samaria and Jerusalem

³The Lord is about to come down

from his home in heaven.

He rules over the highest places on earth.

⁴The mountains will melt under him

like wax near a fire.

The valleys will be broken apart

by water rushing down a slope.

⁵All of that will happen because

Jacob’s people have done what is wrong.

The people of Israel

have committed many sins.

Who is to blame

for the wrong things Jacob has done?

Samaria!

Who is to blame for the high places

where Judah’s people worship other gods?

Jerusalem!

⁶So the Lord says,

“I will turn Samaria into a pile of trash.

It will become a place for planting vineyards.

I will dump its stones down into the valley.

And I will destroy it

down to its very foundations.

⁷All of the statues of Samaria’s gods

will be broken to pieces.

All of the gifts its people gave to temple prostitutes

will be burned with fire.

I will destroy all of the statues of its gods.

Samaria collected gifts that were paid to temple prostitutes.

So the Assyrians will use the gifts

to pay their own temple prostitutes.”

Micah Sobs Over His People

⁸I will sob and cry because Samaria will be destroyed.

I’ll walk around barefoot.

I won’t have anything on but my underwear.

I’ll bark like a wild dog.

I’ll hoot like an owl.

⁹Samaria’s wounds can’t be healed.

The Lord will also judge Judah.

Enemies will march up to the very gate of my people.

They will reach Jerusalem itself.

¹⁰Don’t tell the people of Gath about it.

Don’t let them see you sob.

People in Beth Ophrah, roll in the dust.

¹¹You who live in the town of Shaphir,

leave in shame and without your clothes.

Those who live in Zaanan

won’t come out to help you.

The people in Beth Ezel will sob.

They won’t be able to help keep you safe.

¹²Those who live in Maroth will groan with pain

as they wait for help.

That’s because the Lord will bring trouble on them.

It will reach the very gate of Jerusalem.

¹³You who live in Lachish,

get your horses ready to pull their chariots.

You trust in military power.

That was the beginning of sin

for the people of Zion.

The wrong things Israel did

were also done by you.

¹⁴People of Judah, you might as well say good-by

to Moresheth near Gath.

The town of Aczib won’t give any help

to the kings of Israel.

¹⁵An enemy will attack

you who live in Mareshah.

Israel’s glorious leaders will have to run away

and hide in the cave of Adullam.

¹⁶The children you enjoy so much

will be taken away as prisoners.

So shave your heads and sob.

Make them as bare as the head of a vulture.

People’s Plans and God’s Plans

2How terrible it will be for those

who plan to harm others!

How terrible for those who make evil plans

before they even get out of bed!

As soon as daylight comes,

they carry them out.

That’s because they have the power to do it.

²If they want fields or houses,

they take them.

They cheat men out of

their homes and property.

³So the Lord says to them,

“I am planning to send trouble on you.

You will not be able to save yourselves from it.

You will not live so proudly anymore.

It will be a time of trouble.

⁴At that time people will make fun of you.

They will tease you by singing a song of sadness.

They will pretend to be you and say,

‘We are totally destroyed.

Our enemies have divided up our land.

The Lord has taken it away from us!

He has given our fields to those

who turned against us.’ ”

⁵So you won’t even have anyone left

in the Lord’s community

who can divide up the land for you.

Some Prophets Aren’t Really Prophets at All

⁶“Don’t prophesy,” the people’s prophets say.

“Don’t prophesy about bad things.

Nothing shameful is going to happen to us.”

⁷People of Jacob, should others say,

“The Lord isn’t angry with us.

He doesn’t do things like that”?

The Lord replies, “What I promise brings good things

to those who lead honest lives.

⁸But lately my people have attacked one another

as if they were enemies.

You strip the rich robes off

those who happen to pass by.

They thought they were as safe as men

returning from a battle they had won.

⁹You drive the women among my people

out of their pleasant homes.

You take my blessing away

from their children forever.

¹⁰Get up! Leave this land!

It is no longer your resting place.

You have made it ‘unclean.’

You have completely destroyed it.

¹¹Suppose a prophet goes around telling lies.

And he prophesies that you will have

plenty of wine and beer.

Then that kind of prophet would be

just right for this nation!

The Lord Promises He Will Save His People

¹²“People of Jacob, I will gather all of you.

I will bring together

you who are still left alive in Israel.

I will gather you together like sheep in a pen.

You will be like a flock in its grasslands.

Your country will be filled with people.

¹³I will open the way for you to return.

I will march in front of you.

You will break through the city gates and go free.

I am your King. I will pass through the gates

in front of you.

I will lead the way.”

The Lord Warns Israel’s Leaders and Prophets

3Then I said,

“Listen, you leaders of Jacob’s people!

Pay attention, you rulers of Israel!

You should know how to judge others fairly.

²But you hate what is good.

And you love what is evil.

You are like someone

who tears the skin off my people.

You pull the meat off their bones.

³You eat my people’s bodies.

You strip their skin off.

You break their bones in pieces.

You chop them up like meat.

You put them in a cooking pot.”

⁴The time will come when Israel

will cry out to the Lord.

But he won’t answer them.

In fact, he’ll turn his face away from them.

They have done what is evil.

⁵The Lord says,

“You prophets are leading my people

down the wrong path.

If they feed you,

you promise them peace.

If they do not,

you prepare to go to war against them.

⁶So night will come on you.

But you will not have any visions.

Darkness will cover you.

But you will not be able

to figure out what is going to happen.

The sun will set on you prophets.

The day will become dark for you.

⁷You who see visions will be put to shame.

You who try to figure out what is going to happen

will be dishonored.

All of you will cover your faces.

I will not answer you.”

⁸The Spirit of the Lord

has filled me with power.

He helps me do what is fair.

He makes me brave.

Now I’m prepared to tell Jacob’s people

what they’ve done wrong.

I’m ready to tell Israel they’ve sinned.

⁹Listen to me, you leaders of Jacob’s people!

Pay attention, you rulers of Israel!

You hate to do what is fair.

You twist everything that is right.

¹⁰You build up Zion by spilling the blood of others.

You build Jerusalem by doing what is evil.

¹¹Your judges take money from people

who want special favors.

Your priests teach only if they get paid for it.

Your prophets won’t tell fortunes

unless they receive money.

But you still claim to depend on the Lord.

You say, “The Lord is with us.

No trouble will come on us.”

¹²So because of what you have done,

Zion will be plowed up like a field.

Jerusalem will be turned into a pile of trash.

The temple hill will be covered with bushes and weeds.