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

Judgement Pronounced against Samaria

2Hear, you peoples, all of you;

listen, 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 lo, the LORD is coming out of his place,

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

4Then the mountains will melt under him

and the valleys will burst open,

like wax near 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 place1.5 Heb what are the high places of Judah?

Is it not Jerusalem?

6Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country,

a place for planting vineyards.

I will pour down her stones into the valley,

and uncover her foundations.

7All her images shall be beaten to pieces,

all her wages shall be burned with fire,

and all her idols I will lay waste;

for as the wages of a prostitute she gathered them,

and as the wages of a prostitute they shall again be used.

The Doom of the Cities of Judah

8For this I will lament and wail;

I will go barefoot and naked;

I will make lamentation like the jackals,

and mourning like the ostriches.

9For her wound1.9 Gk Syr Vg: Heb wounds is incurable.

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-leaphrah

roll yourselves in the dust.

11Pass on your way,

inhabitants of Shaphir,

in nakedness and shame;

the inhabitants of Zaanan

do not come forth;

Beth-ezel is wailing

and shall remove its support from you.

12For the inhabitants of Maroth

wait anxiously for good,

yet 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 daughter Zion,

for in you were found

the transgressions of Israel.

14Therefore you shall give parting gifts

to Moresheth-gath;

the houses of Achzib shall be a deception

to the kings of Israel.

15I will again bring a conqueror upon you,

inhabitants of Mareshah;

the glory of Israel

shall come to Adullam.

16Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair

for your pampered children;

make yourselves as bald as the eagle,

for they have gone from you into exile.