Micah 1
1 [I am] Micah. I am from [the town of] Moresheth [in Judah]. Yahweh gave me these [messages in] visions about Samaria and Jerusalem during the time when Jotham, [and then] Ahaz, and [then] Hezekiah, were the kings of Judah.
A word of Jehovah that hath been unto Micah the Morashite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah, that he hath seen concerning Samaria and Jerusalem:
2 You people everywhere on the earth, pay attention to this [DOU]! Yahweh our God is accusing you from his holy temple [in heaven].
Hear, O peoples, all of them! Attend, O earth, and its fulness, And the Lord Jehovah is against you for a witness, The Lord from His holy temple.
3 He will come down [from heaven] and walk on the tops of the highest mountains.
For lo, Jehovah is going out from His place, And He hath come down, And hath trodden on high places of earth.
4 [It will be as though] the mountains will melt under his [feet] like [SIM] wax [melts] in front of a fire, and like [SIM] water [disappears] when it rushes/flows down into a valley.
Melted have been the mountains under Him, And the valleys do rend themselves, As wax from the presence of fire, As waters cast down by a slope.
5 Those things will happen because of the terrible sins [DOU] that the people [MTY] of Israel, [the descendants of] Jacob, have committed. But it was [RHQ] [the people of] Samaria [city who persuaded all the people of] Israel to sin, and it was [RHQ] because the people of Jerusalem [set up altars to worship their gods] that [the other people of] Judah [were persuaded to worship idols on] their hilltops.
For the transgression of Jacob [is] all this, And for the sins of the house of Israel. What [is] the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what the high places of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?
6 So Yahweh will cause Samaria to become a heap [of rubble/ruins]; [it will be only] a field for planting vineyards. He will cause the stones of its [buildings] to roll down into the valley, and the foundations [of the buildings] will be uncovered.
And I have set Samaria for a heap of the field, For plantations of a vineyard, And poured out into a valley her stones, And her foundations I uncover.
7 All the idols in Samaria will be smashed, and the gifts [given to prostitutes at the temples of their idols] will be destroyed in a fire. And because people paid prostitutes there, [their enemies will take away those idols and sell them] to get money to pay to prostitutes [in other countries].
And all her graven images are beaten down, And all her gifts are burnt with fire, And all her idols I make a desolation, For, from the hire of a harlot she gathered, and unto the hire of a harlot they return.
8 Because [Samaria will be destroyed], I will weep and wail. I will walk around (barefoot/without any sandals on my feet) and naked. I will howl like a jackal/wolf and screech like an owl,
For this I lament and howl, I go spoiled and naked, I make a lamentation like dragons, And a mourning like daughters of an ostrich.
9 because Samaria will be completely destroyed [MET]; nothing can save that city. But the same thing will happen to Judah! [It is as though the enemy army] has [already] reached the city gates of Jerusalem, [the main city where] my people [live].
For mortal [are] her wounds, For it hath come unto Judah, It hath come to a gate of My people — to Jerusalem.
10 Do not tell that to [our enemies] in Gath [city in Philistia]! Do not cry, [lest the people there find out what is happening]! [Instead, just] roll in the dirt in Beth-Leaphrah [because the name of that town means ‘house of dust].’
In Gath tell ye not — in Acco weep not, In Beth-Aphrah, in dust roll thyself.
11 You people who live in Shaphir [town, whose name means ‘beautiful],’ naked and ashamed, you will be taken [to another country]. [You people in] Beth-Ezel [town] should mourn, [because] no one from Zaanan [town, whose name means ‘one who goes out],’ will go out to help you.
Pass over for thee, O inhabitant of Shaphir, Naked one of shame. Not gone out hath the inhabitant of Zaanan, The lamentation of Beth-Ezel doth take from you its standing.
12 [The name of] Maroth [town sounds like ‘bitterness];’ everyone there is anxiously waiting for good things to happen to them, but good things will not happen to them; instead, terrible things are about to happen to them, and it will soon happen at the gates of Jerusalem.
For stayed for good hath the inhabitant of Maroth, For evil hath come down from Jehovah to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 You people of Lachish [city, whose name sounds like ‘team],’ hitch your horses to pull the chariots [in which you can ride to flee from your enemies]. The Israeli people rebelled against Yahweh, and you (imitated them/did the same evil things that they did), and that caused the people of Jerusalem [IDM] to start sinning, too.
Bind the chariot to a swift beast, O inhabitant of Lachish, The beginning of sin [is] she to the daughter of Zion, For in thee have been found the transgressions of Israel.
14 [You people of Judah], send a farewell gift to [the people] of Moresheth [town], [because their enemies will soon destroy it]. [The name of the town Aczib means ‘deception],’ and the kings of Israel [will soon find out that the people of that town] will deceive them.
Therefore thou givest presents to Moresheth-Gath, The houses of Achzib become a lying thing to the kings of Israel.
15 [The name of your town of] Mareshah [means ‘conqueror],’ and Yahweh will [soon] send someone to conquer your town. [It will be necessary for] the great/glorious leaders of Israel to go [and hide in the cave at] Adullam [city].
Yet the possessor I do bring in to thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah, To Adullam come in doth the honour of Israel.
16 [You people of Judah], shave your heads [while you will be mourning], because your children whom you love will [soon] be (exiled/forced to leave you and go to another country).
Make bald and shave, for thy delightful sons, Enlarge thy baldness as an eagle, For they have removed from thee!
