Micah
Chapter 1
1 God’s message that came to Micah of Morasheth during the time of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, the kings of Judah, was about Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Listen, everyone; pay attention, O earth and everything in it: and let God be a witness against you, God from his holy place.
3 Look, God is coming from his place and will step down and walk on the earth’s high places.
4 The mountains will melt beneath him, and the valleys will split open, like wax melting before a fire and like water rushing down a slope.
5 All this is because Jacob did wrong, and Israel’s house sinned. What did Jacob do wrong? Wasn’t it Samaria? And Judah’s wrong places, aren’t they Jerusalem?
6 So, I will turn Samaria into a pile of rubble in a field, like a cleared vineyard, and I will toss its stones into the valley and expose its foundations.
7 All its carved idols will be smashed, all its earnings will be burned up, and all its idols I will ruin. It collected its wealth by prostitution, and it will be used again for prostitution.
8 I will cry and yell, I will walk bare and naked: I will cry loudly like the dragons, and grieve like the owls.
9 Her injury can’t be healed; it has reached Judah and even the entrance of my people in Jerusalem.
10 Do not announce it in Gath, do not cry at all; in the house of Aphrah cover yourself with dust.
11 Go away, you who live in Saphir, with your shame exposed. The people of Zaanan did not leave to mourn for Bethezel; they will get no support from you.
12 The person from Maroth really hoped for something good, but bad things came from God to Jerusalem’s gate.
13 You, who live in Lachish, hitch the chariot to the fast horse: you started the sin for Zion’s people. Israel’s wrongdoings were found in you.
14 So you must give gifts to Moresheth of Gath; the towns of Achzib will deceive the kings of Israel.
15 I will send an enemy to conquer you, people of Mareshah; the nobles of Israel will hide in the cave at Adullam.
16 Shave your head and cut off your hair for your precious children; make your bald spot bigger like an eagle, because they have been taken away from you as captives.