Micah 1
Evangelical Heritage Version
1 This is the word of the Lord that came to Micah from Moresheth, in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. He saw this vision concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Listen, all you peoples!
Pay close attention, earth and all of you who fill it!
The Lord God will testify against you.
The Lord will testify from his holy temple.
The Lord’s Judgment Is Coming on Samaria and Jerusalem
3 Look! The Lord is coming out from his place.
He will come down and will trample the high places of the land.
4 The mountains will melt beneath him,
and the valleys will flow away like wax near a fire,
like water spilling down a mountainside.
5 All this will happen because of the rebellion of Jacob,
because of the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the rebellion of Jacob? Is it not Samaria?
What is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?
6 That is why I have sentenced Samaria to become
a heap of ruins in the open countryside,
a place where someone might plant a vineyard.
I have hurled down its stones into the valley.[a]
I will expose its foundation.
7 All her carved idols will be crushed,
and all her wages will be burned with fire.
I will sentence all her useless images to destruction.
Because she collected a prostitute’s wages to obtain them,
they will become a prostitute’s wages again.
Micah’s Mourning
8 Because of this I must lament and grieve.
I must walk barefoot and naked.
I must howl like a jackal
and make a mourning shriek like an ostrich,[b]
9 because her plague is incurable.
It has even spread to Judah.
It has arrived at the gate of my people.
It has come all the way up to Jerusalem.
10 Do not announce it in Gath.
Do not weep at all.
In Beth Ophrah roll around in the dust.[c]
11 Pass by, inhabitants of Shaphir, naked and ashamed.
The inhabitants of Za’anan[d] must not go out.
Beth Ezel mourns. It takes away its support from you.[e]
12 The inhabitants of Maroth anxiously wait for good,
because disaster has come down from the Lord to the gates of Jerusalem.
13 Hitch fast horses to the chariot, you inhabitants of Lachish.
You were the beginning of sin for the Daughter of Zion,
because the rebellious deeds of Israel were found also in you.
14 Therefore you will give farewell gifts to Moresheth Gath.
The houses of Akzib will be undependable to the kings of Israel.
15 I will once again bring a conqueror to you, you inhabitants of Mareshah.
The glory of Israel will come to Adullam.[f]
16 Shave your heads and cut off your hair
to mourn for the children that delight you.
Make yourself bald as a buzzard,
because your children will be taken away from you into exile.
Footnotes
- Micah 1:6 Though the events described in verse 6 still lay in the future as Micah was writing about them, the Hebrew verbs express past time, indicating that the events were already determined by God.
- Micah 1:8 Or perhaps a type of owl
- Micah 1:10 In this section there is a lot of word play between the city names and the verbs. For example, in verse 10 the name Gath sounds similar to the Hebrew word for tell, and the line that reads in Beth Ophrah roll around in the dust could be translated in Dust City roll around in the dust. The translation does not attempt to reproduce all the puns because many of them do not have good English equivalents or they simply express similarity of sound.
- Micah 1:11 The stop mark ′ shows that Za’an- is to be pronounced as two syllables.
- Micah 1:11 The meaning of this line is uncertain.
- Micah 1:15 This line does not seem to provide a parallel to its neighbors. It may mean that the nobles of Israel are refugees to Adullam, or that God comes there in judgment.
Micah 1
Lexham English Bible
The Impending Doom of Samaria and Jerusalem
1 The word of Yahweh that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah, that he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem:
2 Hear, all you peoples;
give heed, O earth and its fullness.
And let the Lord Yahweh be against you as a witness,
the Lord from his holy temple.[a]
3 For behold, Yahweh is coming out from his place,
and he will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
4 The mountains will melt under him
and the valleys will burst open,
like wax before the fire,
like water rushing down a slope.
5 All this is for the rebellion of Jacob,
and for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the rebellion of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
And what are the high places of Judah?
Are they not Jerusalem?
6 So I will make Samaria as a heap of rubble in the field,
a place for planting a vineyard.
And I will pour down her stones into the valley
and uncover her foundations.
7 Then all her idols will be broken in pieces,
and all her prostitution wages will be burned in the fire,
and all her idols I will make a desolation,
For from the wage of a prostitute she gathered them,
and to the wage of a prostitute they will return.
8 On account of this I will lament and wail.
I will go about barefoot and naked.
I will make a lamentation like the jackals,
and a mourning ceremony like the ostriches.[b]
9 For her wounds are incurable,
because it has come to Judah.
It has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.
10 Do not tell it in Gath;
you must not weep at all.
In Beth-le-Aphrah
roll yourself in dust.
11 Pass on, you inhabitants of Shaphir,
in naked shame.
The inhabitants of Zaanan do not come forth;
the wailing of Beth-ha-Ezel will take its protection from you.
12 For the inhabitants of Maroth
writhed for good,
because disaster has come down from Yahweh
to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the chariot to the team of horses,
O inhabitants of Lachish;
it is the beginning of sin
for the daughter of Zion,
for the transgressions of Israel
were found in you.
14 Therefore you will give parting gifts
to Moresheth-Gath;
the houses of Achzib will be a deception
to the kings of Israel.
15 I will again bring the conqueror upon you,
O inhabitants of Mareshah;
the glory of Israel
will come to Adullam.
16 Make yourselves bald
and cut off your hair
for the children of your pleasure.
Expand your baldness as the eagle,
for they will go into exile away from you.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.
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