1The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

The Coming Destruction

2Hear, you peoples, all of you;1:2 Hebrew all of them

pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,

and let the Lord GOD be a witness against you,

the Lord from his holy temple.

3For behold, the LORD is coming out of his place,

and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.

4And the mountains will melt under him,

and the valleys will split open,

like wax before the fire,

like waters poured down a steep place.

5All this is for the transgression of Jacob

and for 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 in the open country,

a place for planting vineyards,

and I will pour down her stones into the valley

and uncover her foundations.

7All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,

all her wages shall be burned with fire,

and all her idols I will lay waste,

for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them,

and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

8For this I will lament and wail;

I will go stripped and naked;

I will make lamentation like the jackals,

and mourning like the ostriches.

9For her wound is incurable,

and it has come to Judah;

it has reached to the gate of my people,

to Jerusalem.

10Tell it not in Gath;

weep not at all;

in Beth-le-aphrah

roll yourselves in the dust.

11Pass on your way,

inhabitants of Shaphir,

in nakedness and shame;

the inhabitants of Zaanan

do not come out;

the lamentation of Beth-ezel

shall take away from you its standing place.

12For the inhabitants of Maroth

wait anxiously for good,

because disaster has come down from the LORD

to the gate of Jerusalem.

13Harness the steeds to the chariots,

inhabitants of Lachish;

it was the beginning of sin

to the daughter of Zion,

for in you were found

the transgressions of Israel.

14Therefore you shall give parting gifts1:14 Or give dowry

to Moresheth-gath;

the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing

to the kings of Israel.

15I will again bring a conqueror to you,

inhabitants of Mareshah;

the glory of Israel

shall come to Adullam.

16Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair,

for the children of your delight;

make yourselves as bald as the eagle,

for they shall go from you into exile.