Destruction in Israel and Judah
1The 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.
2Hear, you peoples, all of Lit themyou;
Listen carefully, earth and Lit its fullnessall it contains,
And may the Lord Heb YHWH, usually rendered LordGod be a witness against you,
The Lord from His holy temple.
3For behold, the Lord is coming forth from His place.
He will come down and tread on the high places of the Or landearth.
4The mountains will melt under Him
And the valleys will be split,
Like wax before the fire,
Like water poured down a steep place.
5All this is due to the Or rebellionwrongdoing of Jacob
And the sins of the house of Israel.
What is the Or rebellionwrongdoing of Jacob?
Is it not Samaria?
What is the high Lit placesplace of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem?
6For I will make Samaria a heap of ruins Lit of the fieldin the open country,
Planting places for a vineyard.
I will hurl her stones down into the valley,
And lay bare her foundations.
7All 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.
8Because 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.
9For her wound is incurable,
For it has come to Judah;
It has reached the gate of my people,
Even to Jerusalem.
10Do not tell it in Gath,
Do not weep at all.
At I.e., house of dustBeth-le-aphrah roll yourself in the dust in mourning.
11
I.e., Go into captivity
Go on your way, inhabitant of I.e., pleasantnessShaphir, in shameful nakedness.
The inhabitant of I.e., going outZaanan does not Lit go outescape.
The mourning of I.e., the house besideBeth-ezel: “He will take from you its Lit standing placesupport.”
12For the inhabitant of I.e., bitternessMaroth
Or possibly has been in agony for
Waits for something good,
Because a disaster has come down from the Lord
To the gate of Jerusalem.
13Harness 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.
14Therefore you will give parting gifts
In behalf of Moresheth-gath;
The houses of Achzib will become a Heb achzab, wordplay on Achzibdeception
To the kings of Israel.
15Moreover, I will bring on you
The one who takes possession,
You inhabitant of I.e., possessionMareshah.
The glory of Israel will enter Adullam.
16Shave 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.
New American Standard Bible
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by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved.
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