Judgment to Come

1This 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:

2Hear, 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.

3For behold, the LORD comes forth from His dwelling place; He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.

4The mountains will melt beneath Him, and the valleys will split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope.

5All 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?

6Therefore 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.

7All 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.

Weeping and Mourning

8Because of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal ⁰and mourn like an ostrich. ¹

9For her wound is incurable; it has reached even Judah; it has approached the gate of my people, as far as Jerusalem itself.

10Do not tell it in Gath; ²do not weep at all. Roll in the dust in Beth-leaphrah. ³

11Depart in shameful nakedness, O dwellers of Shaphir. ⁴The dwellers of Zaanan ⁵will not come out. Beth-ezel ⁶is in mourning; its support is taken from you.

12For the dwellers of Maroth ⁷pined for good, but calamity came down from the LORD,
even to the gate of Jerusalem.

13Harness your chariot horses, O dweller of Lachish. ⁸You were the beginning of sin to the Daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.

14Therefore, send farewell gifts ⁹to Moresheth-gath; ¹⁰the houses of Achzib ¹¹will prove deceptive
to the kings of Israel.

15I will again bring a conqueror against you, O dweller of Mareshah. ¹²
The glory of Israel will come to Adullam.

16Shave 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.