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.
The word of Jehovah that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw 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, ye peoples, all of you. Hearken, O earth, and all who are in it, and let the Lord Jehovah be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
3 He will come down [from heaven] and walk on the tops of the highest mountains.
For, behold, Jehovah comes forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the 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.
And the mountains shall be melted under him, and the valleys shall be split, as wax before the fire, as waters that are poured down a steep place.
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.
All 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?
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.
Therefore I will make Samaria as a heap of the field, and as places for planting vineyards. And I will pour down the stones of it into the valley, and I will uncover the foundations of it.
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 shall be beaten to pieces. And all her wages shall be burned with fire, and I will lay desolate all her idols. For she has gathered them from the wages of a harlot, and to the wage of a harlot they shall 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 will lament and wail. I will go stripped and naked. I will make a wailing like the jackals, and a lamentation like the ostriches.
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 her wounds are incurable. For it has come even to Judah. it reaches to the gate of my people, even 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].’
Tell it not in Gath. Weep not at all. I have rolled myself in the dust at Beth-le-aphrah.
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 away, O inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame. The inhabitant of Zaanan has not come forth. The wailing of Beth-ezel shall take from you the stay of it.
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 the inhabitant of Maroth waits anxiously for good, because evil has 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 the swift steed, O inhabitant of Lachish. She was the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee.
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 shall give a parting gift to Moresheth-gath. The houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful 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].
I will yet bring to thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah, him who shall possess thee. The glory of Israel shall come even to Adullam.
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 thee bald, and cut off thy hair for the sons of thy delight. Enlarge thy baldness as the vulture, for they have gone into captivity from thee.
