1:1 The word of the LORD which came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and which he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem.
1:2 Hear, you peoples, all of ①you;
Listen carefully, earth and ②all it contains,
And may the Lord ③GOD be a witness against you,
The Lord from His holy temple.
▷ ①Lit them ②Lit its fullness ③Heb YHWH, usually rendered LORD
1:3 For behold, the LORD is coming forth from His place.
He will come down and tread on the high places of the ①earth.
▷ ①Or land
1:4 The mountains will melt under Him
And the valleys will be split,
Like wax before the fire,
Like water poured down a steep place.
1:5 All this is due to the ①wrongdoing of Jacob
And the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the ②wrongdoing of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
What is the high ③place of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem?
▷ ①Or rebellion ②Or rebellion ③Lit places
1:6 For I will make Samaria a heap of ruins ①in the open country,
Planting places for a vineyard.
I will hurl her stones down into the valley,
And lay bare her foundations.
▷ ①Lit of the field
1:7 All of her idols will be crushed,
All of her earnings will be burned with fire,
And all of her images I will make desolate;
For she collected them from a prostitute’s earnings,
And to the earnings of a prostitute they will return.
1:8 Because of this I must mourn and wail,
I must go barefoot and naked;
I must do mourning like the jackals,
And a mourning like the ostriches.
1:9 For her wound is incurable,
For it has come to Judah;
It has reached the gate of my people,
Even to Jerusalem.
1:10 Do not tell it in Gath,
Do not weep at all.
At ①Beth-le-aphrah roll yourself in the dust in mourning.
▷ ①I.e., house of dust
1:11 ①Go on your way, inhabitant of ②Shaphir, in shameful nakedness.
The inhabitant of ③Zaanan does not ④escape.
The mourning of ⑤Beth-ezel: “He will take from you its ⑥support.”
▷ ①I.e., Go into captivity ②I.e., pleasantness ③I.e., going out ④Lit go out ⑤I.e., the house beside ⑥Lit standing place
1:12 For the inhabitant of ①Maroth
②Waits for something good,
Because a disaster has come down from the LORD
To the gate of Jerusalem.
▷ ①I.e., bitterness ②Or possibly has been in agony for
1:13 Harness the chariot to the team of horses,
You inhabitant of Lachish—
She was the beginning of sin
To the daughter of Zion—
Because in you were found
The rebellious acts of Israel.
1:14 Therefore you will give parting gifts
In behalf of Moresheth-gath;
The houses of Achzib will become a ①deception
To the kings of Israel.
▷ ①Heb achzab, wordplay on Achzib
1:15 Moreover, I will bring on you
The one who takes possession,
You inhabitant of ①Mareshah.
The glory of Israel will enter Adullam.
▷ ①I.e., possession
1:16 Shave yourself bald, yes, 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.