Micah 1
English Standard Version
1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah (A)of Moresheth (B)in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw (C)concerning (D)Samaria and Jerusalem.
The Coming Destruction
2 (E)Hear, you peoples, all of you;[a]
(F)pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,
and (G)let the Lord God be a witness against you,
(H)the Lord from his holy temple.
3 For behold, (I)the Lord is coming out of (J)his place,
and will come down and (K)tread upon the high places of the earth.
4 And (L)the mountains will melt under him,
and the valleys will split open,
like wax before the fire,
like waters poured down a steep place.
5 All this is for (M)the transgression of Jacob
and for the sins of the house of Israel.
(N)What is the transgression of Jacob?
Is it not (O)Samaria?
And what is (P)the high place of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem?
6 Therefore I will make (Q)Samaria (R)a heap in the open country,
a place for planting vineyards,
and I will pour down her stones (S)into the valley
and (T)uncover her foundations.
7 All (U)her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,
(V)all her wages shall be burned with fire,
and all her idols I will lay waste,
for from (W)the fee of a prostitute she gathered them,
and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.
8 (X)For this I will lament and wail;
I will go (Y)stripped and naked;
I will make lamentation (Z)like the jackals,
and mourning (AA)like the ostriches.
9 (AB)For her wound is incurable,
and it has come to Judah;
it has reached to the gate of my people,
to Jerusalem.
10 (AC)Tell it not in (AD)Gath;
weep not at all;
in Beth-le-aphrah
(AE)roll yourselves in the dust.
11 Pass on your way,
inhabitants of Shaphir,
(AF)in nakedness and shame;
the inhabitants of Zaanan
do not come out;
the lamentation of Beth-ezel
shall take away from you its standing place.
12 For the inhabitants of Maroth
wait anxiously for good,
because disaster has come down (AG)from the Lord
to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the steeds to the chariots,
inhabitants of (AH)Lachish;
it was the beginning of sin
to the daughter of Zion,
for in you were found
(AI)the transgressions of Israel.
14 Therefore you shall give parting gifts[b]
to (AJ)Moresheth-gath;
the houses of (AK)Achzib shall be a deceitful thing
to the kings of Israel.
15 I will again bring (AL)a conqueror to you,
inhabitants of (AM)Mareshah;
the glory of Israel
shall come to (AN)Adullam.
16 (AO)Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair,
for the children of your delight;
(AP)make yourselves as bald as the eagle,
for they shall go from you into exile.
Footnotes
- Micah 1:2 Hebrew all of them
- Micah 1:14 Or give dowry
Micah 1
The Message
1 God’s Message as it came to Micah of Moresheth. It came during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. It had to do with what was going on in Samaria and Jerusalem.
God Takes the Witness Stand
2 Listen, people—all of you.
Listen, earth, and everyone in it:
The Master, God, takes the witness stand against you,
the Master from his Holy Temple.
* * *
3-5 Look, here he comes! God, from his place!
He comes down and strides across mountains and hills.
Mountains sink under his feet,
valleys split apart;
The rock mountains crumble into gravel,
the river valleys leak like sieves.
All this because of Jacob’s sin,
because Israel’s family did wrong.
You ask, “So what is Jacob’s sin?”
Just look at Samaria—isn’t it obvious?
And all the sex-and-religion shrines in Judah—
isn’t Jerusalem responsible?
* * *
6-7 “I’m turning Samaria into a heap of rubble,
a vacant lot littered with garbage.
I’ll dump the stones from her buildings in the valley
and leave her abandoned foundations exposed.
All her carved and cast gods and goddesses
will be sold for stove wood and scrap metal,
All her sacred fertility groves
burned to the ground,
All the sticks and stones she worshiped as gods,
destroyed.
These were her earnings from her life as a whore.
This is what happens to the fees of a whore.”
* * *
8-9 This is why I lament and mourn.
This is why I go around in rags and barefoot.
This is why I howl like a pack of coyotes,
and moan like a mournful owl in the night.
God has inflicted punishing wounds;
Judah has been wounded with no healing in sight.
Judgment has marched through the city gates.
Jerusalem must face the charges.
* * *
10-16 Don’t gossip about this in Telltown.
Don’t waste your tears.
In Dustville,
roll in the dust.
In Alarmtown,
the alarm is sounded.
The citizens of Exitburgh
will never get out alive.
Lament, Last-Stand City:
There’s nothing in you left standing.
The villagers of Bittertown
wait in vain for sweet peace.
Harsh judgment has come from God
and entered Peace City.
All you who live in Chariotville,
get in your chariots for flight.
You led the daughter of Zion
into trusting not God but chariots.
Similar sins in Israel
also got their start in you.
Go ahead and give your good-bye gifts
to Good-byeville.
Miragetown beckoned
but disappointed Israel’s kings.
Inheritance City
has lost its inheritance.
Glorytown
has seen its last of glory.
Shave your heads in mourning
over the loss of your precious towns.
Go bald as a goose egg—they’ve gone
into exile and aren’t coming back.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson