Micah 1

Modern

Literal

Judgment to Come

¹This is the word of the LORD that came to Micah the Moreshite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem:

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

²Hear, O peoples, all of you;

listen, O earth, and everyone in it!

May the Lord GOD bear witness against you,

the Lord from His holy temple.

²Hear, O peoples, all of them! Pay attention, O earth, and its fullness! And may the Lord YHWH be against you as a witness—the Lord from the temple of His holiness!

³For behold, the LORD comes forth

from His dwelling place;

He will come down and tread

on the high places of the earth.

³For behold, YHWH is coming from His station. He will come down and will tread upon the high places of the earth.

⁴The mountains will melt beneath Him,

and the valleys will split apart,

like wax before the fire,

like water rushing down a slope.

⁴And the mountains will melt under Him, and the valleys will split apart, like wax before the face of the fire, like waters poured down on a slope.

⁵All this is for the transgression of Jacob

and 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?

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 are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem?

⁶Therefore I will make Samaria

a heap of rubble in the open field,

a planting area for a vineyard.

I will pour her stones into the valley

and expose her foundations.

⁶And I will set Samaria as a heap of ruins in the field, a planting area of a vineyard; I will pour down her stones into the valley, and her foundations I will uncover.

⁷All her carved images will be smashed to pieces;

all her wages will be burned in the fire,

and I will destroy all her idols.

Since she collected the wages of a prostitute,

they will be used again on a prostitute.

⁷And all her carved images will be crushed, and all her wages will be burned in the fire, and all her idols I will set as a desolation. For from the wages of a prostitute she gathered it, and to the wages of a prostitute they will return!

Weeping and Mourning

⁸Because of this I will lament and wail;

I will walk barefoot and naked.

I will howl like a jackal^a

and mourn like an ostrich.^b

⁸Over this I will mourn and wail, I will go barefoot and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackals, and a lamentation like the daughters of the ostrich.

⁹For her wound is incurable;

it has reached even Judah;

it has approached the gate of my people,

as far as Jerusalem itself.

⁹For her wounds are incurable, for it has come to Judah; it has reached even to the gate of My people, to Jerusalem.

¹⁰Do not tell it in Gath;^a do not weep at all.

Roll in the dust in Beth-leaphrah.^b

¹⁰Do not declare it in Gath, do not weep at all weep; in Beth-leaphrah, roll yourself in the dust.

¹¹Depart in shameful nakedness,

O dwellers of Shaphir.^a

The dwellers of Zaanan^b

will not come out.

Beth-ezel^c is in mourning;

its support is taken from you.

¹¹Pass by for yourself, O dweller of Shaphir, in shameful nakedness. She does not come out—the dweller of Zaanan; the mourning of Beth-ezel will take away from you its station.

¹²For the dwellers of Maroth^a pined for good,

but calamity came down from the LORD,

even to the gate of Jerusalem.

¹²For the dweller of Maroth has waited anxiously for good, because calamity has come down from YHWH to the gate of Jerusalem!

¹³Harness your chariot horses,

O dweller of Lachish.^a

You were the beginning of sin to the Daughter of Zion,

for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.

¹³Harness the chariot to the swift steed, O dweller of Lachish! She was the beginning of sin for the daughter of Zion, for in you were found the transgressions of Israel.

¹⁴Therefore, send farewell gifts^a to Moresheth-gath;^b

the houses of Achzib^c will prove deceptive

to the kings of Israel.

¹⁴Therefore you will give farewell gifts to Moresheth-gath; the houses of Achzib are a deceit to the kings of Israel.

¹⁵I will again bring a conqueror against you,

O dweller of Mareshah.^a

The glory of Israel will come to Adullam.

¹⁵Again the possessor I will bring to you, O dweller of Mareshah; to Adullam will come the glory of Israel.

¹⁶Shave yourselves bald and cut off your hair

in mourning for your precious children;

make yourselves as bald as an eagle,

for they will go from you into exile.

¹⁶Make yourself bald and shear your head over the children of your delight; enlarge your baldness like an eagle, for they will go into exile away from you.