Micah 1:2-7

The Voice

The Northern Kingdom of Israel, sometimes called Samaria after its capital city, was conquered by the Assyrian Empire in 722 b.c. The Southern Kingdom of Judah, where Micah lives and speaks, has been spared that fate, but at a high price: the people have lost the power to govern themselves, pay huge tributes to the Assyrians, and allow the corruption of their religious practices because of the Assyrians’ influence. All Israelites suffer under these conditions, but Micah’s attention is drawn especially to the poor and dispossessed; somehow, as often happens in wartime, rich people manage to get richer while the poor are exploited, and Micah is outraged at the way the rulers of Judah have taken advantage of those who had little—and now have less.

²Listen, all of you people!^[a]
    Pay attention, earth and all upon it!
The Eternal Lord gives evidence against you;
    the Lord speaks from His holy temple.
³Look at this: the Eternal is leaving His home in heaven,
    and He is coming down to walk^[b] over the high places of the earth.
⁴The mountains will melt beneath His feet;
    the valleys will burst open,
Like wax next to a raging fire,
    as water pours from the heights.

⁵Eternal One: All of this is happening because of the crimes of Jacob,
        the wrongdoings of the people of Israel.
    And what is the crime of Jacob? Isn’t it Samaria?
        And what is the high place of Judah? Isn’t it Jerusalem?
⁶    And so I will turn Samaria into a pile of ruins in an open field.
        To make her properly into a place to plant a vineyard,
    I will roll her stones into the valley
        and bare her foundations for all to see.
⁷    I will shatter her images and burn her immoral riches with fire,
        and all her idols I will break down.
    They came from the earning of prostitutes, servants of other gods,
        and they will be used again to pay the wages of another prostitute.