Judgement against Israel
1 The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Hear, you peoples, all of you.
Listen, O earth, and all that is in it,
and let the Lord God be witness against you,
the Lord from his holy temple.
3 Look, the Lord is coming from his place,
and will come down
and tread upon the high places of the earth.
4 The mountains melt under him,
and the valleys split apart,
like wax before the fire,
like waters that are poured down a steep place.
5 All this is because of the disobedience of Jacob,
and for the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the disobedience of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
And what are the high places of Judah?
Are they not Jerusalem?
6 Therefore I will make Samaria like a rubble heap of the field,
like places for planting vineyards,
and I will pour down its stones into the valley,
and I will uncover its foundations.
7 All her idols will be beaten to pieces,
and all her temple gifts will be burned with fire,
and all her images I will destroy.
From the wages of a prostitute has she gathered them,
and with the wages of a prostitute shall they return.
Weeping and Mourning
8 For this I will lament and wail.
I will go stripped and naked.
I will howl like the jackals
and moan like the daughters of owls.
9 For her wounds are incurable,
for it has come to Judah.
It reaches to the gate of my people,
to Jerusalem.
10 Do not tell it in Gath.
Do not weep at all.
Roll yourself in the dust at Beth Ophrah.
11 Depart in nakedness and shame, inhabitants of Shaphir.
The inhabitants of Zaanan cannot leave.
Beth Ezel wails. Its protection has been removed from you.
12 For the inhabitants of Maroth wait anxiously for good,
because disaster has come down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the chariot to the swift steed, inhabitants of Lachish.
You were where the sin began for the daughter of Zion.
For the transgressions of Israel were founded in you.
14 Therefore you will give a parting gift to Moresheth Gath.
The houses of Achzib will be a deceitful thing
to the kings of Israel.
15 I will yet bring a conqueror against you,
inhabitant of Mareshah.
The glory of Israel will come to Adullam.
16 Shave your heads and cut off your hair.
for the children in which you delight.
Enlarge your baldness like the vulture,
for they will be taken away from you, into captivity!