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The Lord gave this message to Micah of Moresheth during the years when Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah. The visions he saw concerned both Samaria and Jerusalem.

Grief over Samaria and Jerusalem

Attention! Let all the people of the world listen!
    Let the earth and everything in it hear.
The Sovereign Lord is making accusations against you;
    the Lord speaks from his holy Temple.
Look! The Lord is coming!
    He leaves his throne in heaven
    and tramples the heights of the earth.
The mountains melt beneath his feet
    and flow into the valleys
like wax in a fire,
    like water pouring down a hill.
And why is this happening?
    Because of the rebellion of Israel[a]
    yes, the sins of the whole nation.
Who is to blame for Israel’s rebellion?
    Samaria, its capital city!
Where is the center of idolatry in Judah?
    In Jerusalem, its capital!

“So I, the Lord, will make the city of Samaria
    a heap of ruins.
Her streets will be plowed up
    for planting vineyards.
I will roll the stones of her walls into the valley below,
    exposing her foundations.
All her carved images will be smashed.
    All her sacred treasures will be burned.
These things were bought with the money
    earned by her prostitution,
and they will now be carried away
    to pay prostitutes elsewhere.”

Therefore, I will mourn and lament.
    I will walk around barefoot and naked.
I will howl like a jackal
    and moan like an owl.
For my people’s wound
    is too deep to heal.
It has reached into Judah,
    even to the gates of Jerusalem.

10 Don’t tell our enemies in Gath[b];
    don’t weep at all.
You people in Beth-leaphrah,[c]
    roll in the dust to show your despair.
11 You people in Shaphir,[d]
    go as captives into exile—naked and ashamed.
The people of Zaanan[e]
    dare not come outside their walls.
The people of Beth-ezel[f] mourn,
    for their house has no support.
12 The people of Maroth[g] anxiously wait for relief,
    but only bitterness awaits them
as the Lord’s judgment reaches
    even to the gates of Jerusalem.

13 Harness your chariot horses and flee,
    you people of Lachish.[h]
You were the first city in Judah
    to follow Israel in her rebellion,
    and you led Jerusalem[i] into sin.
14 Send farewell gifts to Moresheth-gath[j];
    there is no hope of saving it.
The town of Aczib[k]
    has deceived the kings of Israel.
15 O people of Mareshah,[l]
    I will bring a conqueror to capture your town.
And the leaders[m] of Israel
    will go to Adullam.

16 Oh, people of Judah, shave your heads in sorrow,
    for the children you love will be snatched away.
Make yourselves as bald as a vulture,
    for your little ones will be exiled to distant lands.

Footnotes

  1. 1:5 Hebrew Jacob; also in 1:5b. The names “Jacob” and “Israel” are often interchanged throughout the Old Testament, referring sometimes to the individual patriarch and sometimes to the nation.
  2. 1:10a Gath sounds like the Hebrew term for “tell.”
  3. 1:10b Beth-leaphrah means “house of dust.”
  4. 1:11a Shaphir means “pleasant.”
  5. 1:11b Zaanan sounds like the Hebrew term for “come out.”
  6. 1:11c Beth-ezel means “adjoining house.”
  7. 1:12 Maroth sounds like the Hebrew term for “bitter.”
  8. 1:13a Lachish sounds like the Hebrew term for “team of horses.”
  9. 1:13b Hebrew the daughter of Zion.
  10. 1:14a Moresheth sounds like the Hebrew term for “gift” or “dowry.”
  11. 1:14b Aczib means “deception.”
  12. 1:15a Mareshah sounds like the Hebrew term for “conqueror.”
  13. 1:15b Hebrew the glory.

The Lord is coming!

The Lord’s word that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Judah’s Kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem:

Listen, all you peoples!
        Pay attention, earth, and all that fills it!
    May the Lord God be a witness against you,
            the Lord from his holy temple.
Look! The Lord is coming out from his place;
        he will go down and tread on the shrines of the earth.
Then the mountains will melt under him;
        the valleys will split apart,
            like wax yielding to the fire,
            like waters poured down a slope.
All this is for the crime of Jacob
        and the sins of the house of Israel.
        Who is responsible for the crime of Jacob?[a]
                Isn’t it Samaria?
            Who is responsible for[b] the shrines of Judah?
                Isn’t it Jerusalem?
So I will make Samaria a pile of rubble in the open field,
        a place for planting vineyards.
    I will pour her stones into the valley;
        her foundations I will lay bare.
All her images will be beaten to pieces;
        all her wages will be burned;
    I will make all her idols worthless.
        Since she gathered them from the wages of a prostitute,
            they will again become wages of a prostitute.
On account of this, I will cry out and howl;
        I will go about barefoot and stripped.
    I will cry out like the jackals,
        and mourn like the ostriches.

Destruction looms

Indeed, Zion has been weakened by her wounds!
            It has come as far as Judah;
    he has struck as far as the gate of my people,
            as far as Jerusalem.
10 In Gath tell it not; no need to weep there![c]
        In Beth-le-aphrah, roll yourself in the dust!
11 Pass by (for your sake),[d] inhabitants of Shaphir!
        In nakedness and shame she will not go out, inhabitants of Zaanan.
The cry of Beth-ezel
        will take away from you[e] any place to stand.
12 How she longs for good, inhabitants of Maroth!
        Calamity has come down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the horses to the chariot, inhabitants of Lachish!
        It was the beginning of sin for Daughter Zion;
            the crimes of Israel have been found in you.
14 Therefore, you will give good-bye gifts to Moresheth-gath;
        the houses of Achzib have become a deception for the kings of Israel.
15 Again I will bring to you the one who conquers, inhabitants of Mareshah;
        the glory of Israel will come as far as Adullam.
16 Make yourself bald and cut off your hair
            because of your cherished children!
        Make yourself as bald as the vulture,
            for they have gone from you into exile.

Footnotes

  1. Micah 1:5 Heb lacks responsible for.
  2. Micah 1:5 Heb lacks responsible for.
  3. Micah 1:10 Heb lacks there.
  4. Micah 1:11 You (plural)
  5. Micah 1:11 You (feminine singular)