1A message from the LORD came to Micah. He was from the town of Moresheth. The message came while Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah were kings of Judah. This is the vision Micah saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. Here is what he said.2Listen to me, all you nations! Earth and everyone who lives in it, pay attention! The LORD and King will be a witness against you. The Lord will speak from his holy temple in heaven.
The Lord will judge Samaria and Jerusalem
3The LORD is about to come down from his home in heaven. He rules over even the highest places on earth.4The mountains will melt under him like wax near a fire. The valleys will be broken apart by water rushing down a slope.5All this will happen because Jacob’s people have done what is wrong. The people of Israel have committed many sins. Who is to blame for the wrong things Jacob has done? Samaria! Who is to blame for the high places where Judah’s people worship other gods? Jerusalem!6So the LORD says, ‘I will turn Samaria into a pile of rubble. It will become a place for planting vineyards. I will dump its stones down into the valley. And I will destroy it down to its very foundations.7All the statues of Samaria’s gods will be broken to pieces. All the gifts its people gave to temple prostitutes will be burned with fire. I will destroy all the statues of its gods. Samaria collected gifts that were paid to temple prostitutes. So the Assyrians will use the gifts to pay their own temple prostitutes.’
Micah weeps over his people
8I will weep and mourn because Samaria will be destroyed. I’ll walk around barefoot and naked. I’ll bark like a wild dog. I’ll hoot like an owl.9Samaria’s plague can’t be healed. The plague has spread to Judah. It has spread right up to the gate of my people. It has spread to Jerusalem itself.10Don’t tell the people of Gath about it. Don’t let them see you weep. People in Beth Ophrah, roll in the dust.11You who live in the town of Shaphir, leave naked and in shame. Those who live in Zaanan won’t come out to help you. The people in Beth Ezel will mourn. They won’t be able to help keep you safe any longer.12Those who live in Maroth will groan with pain as they wait for help. That’s because the LORD will bring trouble on them. It will reach the very gate of Jerusalem.13You who live in Lachish, get your fast horses ready to pull their chariots. You trust in military power. Lachish was where sin began for the people of Zion. The wrong things Israel did were also done by you.14People of Judah, you might as well say goodbye to Moresheth near Gath. The town of Akzib won’t give any help to the kings of Israel.15An enemy will attack you who live in Mareshah. Israel’s nobles will have to run away and hide in the cave of Adullam.16The children you enjoy so much will be taken away as prisoners. So shave your heads and mourn. Make them as bare as the head of a vulture.
Micah 1
English Standard Version
1The word of the Lord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. (Isa 1:1; Isa 7:9; Jer 23:13; Am 1:1; Mic 1:14)
The Coming Destruction
2Hear, you peoples, all of you;[1] pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and let the Lord God be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple. (Ps 11:4; Isa 1:2; Ho 5:1; Jon 2:7; Mic 3:1; Mic 3:9; Mic 6:1; Hab 2:20; Mal 3:5)3For behold, the Lord is coming out of his place, and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth. (De 32:13; Ps 115:3; Isa 26:21; Am 4:13)4And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place. (Jud 5:5; Ps 97:5; Am 9:5; Am 9:13; Na 1:5)5All this is for the transgression of Jacob 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? (2Ch 28:4; Mic 1:1; Mic 1:13; Mic 3:8)6Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards, and I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations. (1Ki 16:24; Eze 13:14; Mic 1:1; Mic 3:12)7All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, all her wages shall be burned with fire, and all her idols I will lay waste, for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them, and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return. (Ho 2:12; Ho 8:6; Ho 9:1)8For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches. (Job 30:29; Ps 44:19; Isa 13:21; Isa 20:2; Isa 22:4)9For her wound is incurable, and it has come to Judah; it has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem. (Ho 5:13)10Tell it not in Gath; weep not at all; in Beth-le-aphrah roll yourselves in the dust. (1Sa 17:4; 2Sa 1:20; Jer 6:26)11Pass on your way, inhabitants of Shaphir, 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. (Isa 20:4; Isa 47:3)12For the inhabitants of Maroth wait anxiously for good, because disaster has come down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem. (Am 3:6)13Harness the steeds to the chariots, inhabitants of Lachish; it was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for in you were found the transgressions of Israel. (Jos 10:3; 2Ki 18:14; 2Ki 18:17; 2Ch 32:9; Ho 13:1; Mic 1:5)14Therefore you shall give parting gifts[2] to Moresheth-gath; the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel. (Jos 15:44; Mic 1:1)15I will again bring a conqueror to you, inhabitants of Mareshah; the glory of Israel shall come to Adullam. (1Sa 22:1; Jer 6:12; Mic 1:14; Mic 2:4)16Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair, for the children of your delight; make yourselves as bald as the eagle, for they shall go from you into exile. (Isa 22:12)