1THE word of the LORD which came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah; he received it in visions about Samaria and Jerusalem.
The rulers of Israel and Judah denounced
2LISTEN, all you peoples; let the earth and all who are in it give heed, so that the Lord GOD, the Lord from his holy temple, may bear witness among you.
3Even now, the LORD is leaving his dwelling-place; he comes down and walks on the heights of the earth.
4At his touch mountains dissolve like wax before fire; valleys are torn open as when torrents pour down a hillside:
5all this for Jacob's crime and Israel's sin. What is the crime of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? What is the sin of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?
6I shall reduce Samaria to a ruin in the open country, a place for planting vines; I shall hurl her stones into the valley and lay bare her foundations.
7All her carved figures will be smashed, all her images burnt with fire; I shall reduce all her idols to rubble. She amassed them out of earnings for prostitution, and a prostitute's hire will they become once more.
8That is why I lament and wail, despoiled and naked; I howl like a wolf, mourn like a desert-owl.
9Israel has suffered a deadly blow, and now it has fallen on Judah; it has reached the very gate of my people, even Jerusalem itself.
10Will you not tell it in Gath? Will you not weep bitterly? In Beth-aphrah sprinkle yourselves with dust.
11Take to the road, you that dwell in Shaphir! Have not the people of Zaanan gone out in shame from their city? Beth-ezel is a place of lamentation; she can lend you support no longer.
12The people of Maroth are in the depths of despair, for disaster from the LORD has come down to the very gate of Jerusalem.
13You people of Lachish, who first led the daughter of Zion into sin, harness the steeds to the chariots; in you the crimes of Israel are to be found.
14Therefore you must give parting gifts to Moresheth-gath. Beth-achzib has betrayed the kings of Israel.
15And you too, people of Mareshah, I shall send others to take your place; and the glory of Israel will be hidden in Adullam.
16Shave the hair from your head in mourning for the children who were your delight; make yourself bald as a vulture, for they have gone away from you into exile.