Micah 1

Micah 1

¹The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.[#2 Kings 15.5, 7, 32–38; 16.1–20; 18.1–20; Jer 26.18]

Judgment Pronounced against Samaria

²Hear, you peoples, all of you;[#Ps 11.4; 50.7; Jer 6.19; 22.29]

listen, O earth, and all that is in it,

and let the Lord God be a witness against you,

the Lord from his holy temple.

³For the Lord is coming out of his place[#Isa 26.21; Am 4.13]

and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.

⁴Then the mountains will melt under him,[#Isa 64.1, 2; Nah 1.5]

and the valleys will burst open

like wax near the fire,

like waters poured down a slope.

⁵All this is for the transgression of Jacob[#2 Chr 34.3, 4; Isa 28.1; Am 8.14]

and for the sins of the house of Israel.

What is the transgression of Jacob?

Is it not Samaria?

And what is the high place of Judah?

Is it not Jerusalem?

⁶Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country,[#Jer 31.5; Ezek 13.14; Am 5.11]

a place for planting vineyards.

I will pour down her stones into the valley

and uncover her foundations.

⁷All her images shall be beaten to pieces,[#Deut 9.21; 2 Chr 34.7; Isa 23.17]

all her wages shall be burned with fire,

and all her idols I will lay waste;

for as the wages of a prostitute she gathered them,

and as the wages of a prostitute they shall again be used.

The Doom of the Cities of Judah

⁸For this I will lament and wail;[#Isa 13.21, 22; 22.4; 32.11]

I will go barefoot and naked;

I will make lamentation like the jackals

and mourning like the ostriches.

⁹For her wound is incurable.[#v 12 ; 2 Kings 18.13; Jer 30.12, 15; #1.9 Gk Syr Vg: Heb wounds]

It has come to Judah;

it has reached to the gate of my people,

to Jerusalem.

¹⁰Tell it not in Gath;[#2 Sam 1.20]

weep not at all;

in Beth-leaphrah

roll yourselves in the dust.

¹¹Pass on your way,[#Ezek 23.29]

inhabitants of Shaphir,

in nakedness and shame;

the inhabitants of Zaanan

do not come forth;

Beth-ezel is wailing

and shall remove its support from you.

¹²For the inhabitants of Maroth[#Isa 59.9–11; Jer 14.19]

wait anxiously for good,

yet disaster has come down from the Lord

to the gate of Jerusalem.

¹³Harness the steeds to the chariots,[#2 Kings 14.19; Isa 36.2]

inhabitants of Lachish;

it was the beginning of sin

to daughter Zion,

for in you were found

the transgressions of Israel.

¹⁴Therefore you shall give parting gifts[#Josh 15.44; 2 Kings 16.8; Jer 15.18]

to Moresheth-gath;

the houses of Achzib shall be a deception

to the kings of Israel.

¹⁵I will again bring a conqueror upon you,[#Josh 12.15; 15.44; 2 Sam 23.13; Mic 5.2]

inhabitants of Mareshah;

the glory of Israel

shall come to Adullam.

¹⁶Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair[#Isa 15.2; 22.12; Lam 4.5; Am 7.11]

for your pampered children;

make yourselves as bald as the eagle,

for they have gone from you into exile.