The word of the Lord that came to ^aMicah of Moresheth in the days of ^bJotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

The Coming Judgment on Israel

2

Hear, all you peoples!

Listen, O earth, and all that is in it!

Let the Lord God be a witness against you,

The Lord from ^aHis holy temple.

3

For behold, the Lord is coming out of His place;

He will come down

And tread on the high places of the earth.

4

^aThe mountains will melt under Him,

And the valleys will split

Like wax before the fire,

Like waters poured down a steep place.

5

All 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 are the ^ahigh places of Judah?

Are they not Jerusalem?

6

“Therefore I will make Samaria ^aa heap of ruins in the field,

Places for planting a vineyard;

I will pour down her stones into the valley,

And I will ^buncover her foundations.

7

All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,

And all her ^apay as a harlot shall be burned with the fire;

All her idols I will lay desolate,

For she gathered it from the pay of a harlot,

And they shall return to the ^bpay of a harlot.”

Mourning for Israel and Judah

8

Therefore I will wail and howl,

I will go stripped and naked;

^aI will make a wailing like the jackals

And a mourning like the ostriches,

9

For her wounds are incurable.

For ^ait has come to Judah;

It has come to the gate of My people—

To Jerusalem.

10

^aTell it not in Gath,

Weep not at all;

In ¹Beth Aphrah

Roll yourself in the dust.

11

Pass by in naked shame, you inhabitant of ¹Shaphir;

The inhabitant of ²Zaanan does not go out.

Beth Ezel mourns;

Its place to stand is taken away from you.

12

For the inhabitant of ¹Maroth ²pined for good,

But ^adisaster came down from the Lord

To the gate of Jerusalem.

13

O inhabitant of ^aLachish,

Harness the chariot to the swift steeds

(She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion),

For the transgressions of Israel were ^bfound in you.

14

Therefore you shall ^agive presents to ¹Moresheth Gath;

The houses of ^bAchzib² shall be a lie to the kings of Israel.

15

I will yet bring an heir to you, O inhabitant of ^aMareshah;¹

The glory of Israel shall come to ^bAdullam.²

16

Make yourself ^abald and cut off your hair,

Because of your ^bprecious children;

Enlarge your baldness like an eagle,

For they shall go from you into ^ccaptivity.