Micah 1
1 This is the word of Yahweh that came to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
A word of YHWH that has been to Micah the Morashite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah, kings of Judah, that he has seen concerning Samaria and Jerusalem:
2 Listen, all you peoples. Listen, earth, and all that is in you. Let the Lord Yahweh be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
Hear, O peoples, all of them! Attend, O earth, and its fullness, And Lord YHWH is against you for a witness, The Lord from His holy temple.
3 Look, Yahweh comes out of his place; he will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.
For behold, YHWH is going out from His place, And He has come down, And has trodden on high places of earth.
4 The mountains will melt under him; the valleys will break apart, like wax before fire, like waters that are poured down a steep place.
The mountains have been melted under Him, And the valleys split themselves, As wax from the presence of fire, As waters cast down by a slope.
5 All this is because of the Jacob's transgression, and because of the sins of the house of Israel. What is Jacob's transgression? Is it not Samaria? What is Judah's high place? Is it not Jerusalem?
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 “I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the field, a place for planting vineyards, and I will pour her stones down into the valley and I will uncover her foundations.
“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 her carved figures will be broken to pieces, and all her gifts that she received will be burned with fire, and I will destroy all her idols. Since she gathered her gifts from the wages of prostitutes, they will become the wages of prostitutes again.”
And all her carved images are beaten down, And all her wages are burned with fire, And all her idols I make a desolation, For from the wage of a harlot she gathered, and to the wage of a harlot they return.”
8 For this reason I will lament and wail; I will go barefoot and naked; I will wail like the jackals and mourn like owls.
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 For her wound is incurable, for it has come to Judah. It has reached the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.
For mortal [are] her wounds, For it has come to Judah, It has come to a gate of My people—to Jerusalem.
10 Do not tell about it in Gath; do not weep at all. At Beth Leaphrah I roll myself in the dust.
In Gath do not tell—in Acco do not weep, In Beth-Aphrah, roll yourself in dust.
11 Pass by, inhabitants of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame. The inhabitants of Zaanan do not come out. Beth Ezel mourns, for their protection is taken away.
Pass over for you, O inhabitant of Shaphir, Naked one of shame. The inhabitant of Zaanan has not gone out, The lamentation of Beth-Ezel takes from you its standing.
12 For the inhabitants of Maroth wait anxiously for good news, because disaster has come down from Yahweh to the gates of Jerusalem.
For the inhabitant of Maroth has stayed for good, For calamity has come down from YHWH to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the chariot to the team of horses, inhabitants of Lachish. You, Lachish, were the beginning of sin for the daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
Bind the chariot to a swift beast, O inhabitant of Lachish, The beginning of sin [is] she to the daughter of Zion, For in you have been found the transgressions of Israel.
14 So you will give a parting gift to Moresheth Gath; the town of Akzib will disappoint the kings of Israel.
Therefore you give presents to Moresheth-Gath, The houses of Achzib become a lying thing to the kings of Israel.
15 I will again bring a conqueror to you, inhabitants of Mareshah; the splendor of Israel will come to Adullam.
Yet I bring the possessor to you, O inhabitant of Mareshah, The glory of Israel comes to Adullam.
16 Shave your head and cut off your hair for the children in whom you delight. Make yourself as bald as eagles, for your children will go into exile from you.
Make bald and shave, for your delightful sons, Enlarge your baldness as an eagle, For they have removed from you!
