Micah 1

Destruction in Israel and Judah

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

2Hear, O peoples, all of you;

Listen, O earth and all it contains,

And let the Lord God be a witness against you,

The Lord from His holy temple.

3For behold, the Lord is coming forth from His place.

He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.

4The mountains will melt under Him

And the valleys will be split,

Like wax before the fire,

Like water poured down a steep place.

5All this is for the rebellion of Jacob

And for the sins of the house of Israel.

What is the rebellion of Jacob?

Is it not Samaria?

What is the high place of Judah?

Is it not Jerusalem?

6For I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the open country,

Planting places for a vineyard.

I will pour her stones down into the valley

And will lay bare her foundations.

7All of her idols will be smashed,

All of her earnings will be burned with fire

And all of her images I will make desolate,

For she collected them from a harlot's earnings,

And to the earnings of a harlot they will return.

8Because of this I must lament and wail,

I must go barefoot and naked;

I must make a lament like the jackals

And a mourning like the ostriches.

9For her wound is incurable,

For it has come to Judah;

It has reached the gate of my people,

Even to Jerusalem.

10Tell it not in Gath,

Weep not at all.

At Beth-le-aphrah roll yourself in the dust.

11Go on your way, inhabitant of Shaphir, in shameful nakedness.

The inhabitant of Zaanan does not escape.

The lamentation of Beth-ezel: “He will take from you its support.”

12For the inhabitant of Maroth

Becomes weak waiting for good,

Because a calamity has come down from the Lord

To the gate of Jerusalem.

13Harness the chariot to the team of horses,

O inhabitant of Lachish—

She was the beginning of sin

To the daughter of Zion—

Because in you were found

The rebellious acts of Israel.

14Therefore you will give parting gifts

On behalf of Moresheth-gath;

The houses of Achzib will become a deception

To the kings of Israel.

15Moreover, I will bring on you

The one who takes possession,

O inhabitant of Mareshah.

The glory of Israel will enter Adullam.

16Make yourself bald and cut off your hair,

Because of the children of your delight;

Extend your baldness like the eagle,

For they will go from you into exile.