Micah 1

Judgment Against Samaria and Jerusalem

1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth during the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

2 Hear this, all you peoples. Listen, earth and everyone in it. Let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple.

3 Look, the LORD is coming out from His place. He is coming down and walking on the high places of the earth.

4 The mountains melt under Him and the valleys split open, like wax before fire, like water poured down a slope.

5 All this is because of Jacob’s rebellion and the sins of the house of Israel. What is Jacob’s rebellion, Is it not Samaria, And what is Judah’s high place, Is it not Jerusalem,

The Coming Destruction

6 So I will make Samaria a heap in the open field, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones into the valley and expose her foundations.

7 All her carved images will be smashed, all her earnings burned with fire, and all her idols laid waste, because she gathered them from prostitution wages and back to prostitution wages they will go.

8 Because of this I will mourn and wail. I will go barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich.

9 Her wound is incurable, and it has come to Judah. It has reached the gate of my people, all the way to Jerusalem.

10 Do not tell it in Gath, do not cry at all. In Beth-leaphrah roll yourself in the dust.

11 Pass by in nakedness and shame, people living in Shaphir. The people of Zaanan do not come out. The mourning of Beth-ezel takes away its support from you.

12 The people of Maroth wait anxiously for good, but disaster has come down from the LORD to the gate of Jerusalem.

13 Harness the chariot to the team of horses, you who live in Lachish. You were the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, because the rebellions of Israel were found in you.

14 So you will give parting gifts to Moresheth-gath. The houses of Achzib will prove deceptive to the kings of Israel.

15 I will bring a conqueror against you who live in Mareshah. The glory of Israel will come to Adullam.

16 Shave your head and cut off your hair because of the children you love. Make yourself bald like the eagle, because they will go from you into exile.