1
The word of the LORD that came to Micah 1of Moresheth 2in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw 3concerning 4Samaria and Jerusalem.
The Coming Destruction
2
5Hear, you peoples, all of you;a 6pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it, and 7let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, 8the Lord from his holy temple.
3
For behold, 9the LORD is coming out of 10his place, and will come down and 11tread upon the high places of the earth.
4
And 12the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like waters poured down a steep place.
5
All this is for 13the transgression of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. 14What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not 15Samaria? And what is 16the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?
6
Therefore I will make 17Samaria 18a heap in the open country, a place for planting vineyards, and I will pour down her stones 19into the valley and 20uncover her foundations.
7
All 21her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, 22all her wages shall be burned with fire, and all her idols I will lay waste, for from 23the fee of a prostitute she gathered them, and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.
8
24For this I will lament and wail; I will go 25stripped and naked; I will make lamentation 26like the jackals, and mourning 27like the ostriches.
9
28For her wound is incurable, and it has come to Judah; it has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.
11
Pass on your way, inhabitants of Shaphir, 32in nakedness and shame; the inhabitants of Zaanan do not come out; the lamentation of Beth-ezel shall take away from you its standing place.
12
For the inhabitants of Maroth wait anxiously for good, because disaster has come down 33from the LORD to the gate of Jerusalem.
13
Harness the steeds to the chariots, inhabitants of 34Lachish; it was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for in you were found 35the transgressions of Israel.
14
Therefore you shall give parting giftsb to 36Moresheth-gath; the houses of 37Achzib shall be a deceitful thing to the kings of Israel.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
(English Standard Version - The Holy Bible Online)