Micah

¹ This is the word of the LORD that came to Micah the Moreshite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem:

² Hear, O peoples, all of you;

listen, O earth, and everyone in it!

May the Lord GOD bear witness against you,

the Lord from His holy temple.

³ For behold, the LORD comes forth

from His dwelling place;

He will come down and tread

on the high places of the earth.

⁴ The mountains will melt beneath Him,

and the valleys will split apart,

like wax before the fire,

like water rushing down a slope.

⁵ All this is for the transgression of Jacob

and 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?

⁶ Therefore I will make Samaria

a heap of rubble in the open field,

a planting area for a vineyard.

I will pour her stones into the valley

and expose her foundations.

⁷ All her carved images will be smashed to pieces;

all her wages will be burned in the fire,

and I will destroy all her idols.

Since she collected the wages of a prostitute,

they will be used again on a prostitute.

⁸ Because of this I will lament and wail;

I will walk barefoot and naked.

I will howl like a jackal ^[a]

and mourn like an ostrich. ^[b]

⁹ For her wound is incurable;

it has reached even Judah;

it has approached the gate of my people,

as far as Jerusalem itself.

¹⁰ Do not tell it in Gath; ^[c] do not weep at all.

Roll in the dust in Beth-leaphrah. ^[d]

¹¹ Depart in shameful nakedness,

O dwellers of Shaphir. ^[e]

The dwellers of Zaanan ^[f]

will not come out.

Beth-ezel ^[g] is in mourning;

its support is taken from you.

¹² For the dwellers of Maroth ^[h] pined for good,

but calamity came down from the LORD,

even to the gate of Jerusalem.

¹³ Harness your chariot horses,

O dweller of Lachish. ^[i]

You were the beginning of sin to the Daughter of Zion,

for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.

¹⁴ Therefore, send farewell gifts ^[j] to Moresheth-gath; ^[k]

the houses of Achzib ^[l] will prove deceptive

to the kings of Israel.

¹⁵ I will again bring a conqueror against you,

O dweller of Mareshah. ^[m]

The glory of Israel will come to Adullam.

¹⁶ Shave yourselves bald and cut off your hair

in mourning for your precious children;

make yourselves as bald as an eagle,

for they will go from you into exile.