Micah 1

Translated from the Hebrew of the Westminster Leningrad Codex. Tap a verse to see why it reads as it does. Tap a small letter to read its footnote.

This is the Balanced text at the default settings. The notes, the reasoning behind each verse and the reader settings need JavaScript..disputed-note .fn-pop-more { display: none; }

The LORD comes against Samaria and Jerusalem

¹The LORD’s word came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah over Judah. It is what he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. ²Listen, all you peoples; \q pay attention, earth and everything in it! \q Let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, \q the Lord from his holy temple. ³See, the LORD is coming out from his dwelling; \q he will come down and tread on the heights of the earth. ⁴The mountains will melt beneath him, \q and the valleys will burst apart, \q like wax before the fire, \q like water rushing down a steep slope. ⁵All this is because of Jacob’s rebellion \q and because of the sins of the house of Israel. \q What is Jacob’s rebellion? Is it not Samaria? \q And what are Judah’s high places? \q Are they not Jerusalem? ⁶So I will make Samaria a heap of rubble in the open country, a place for planting vineyards. \q I will hurl her stones down into the valley \q and lay her foundations bare. ⁷All her carved idols will be smashed to pieces, all her temple gifts burned in the fire, \q and I will lay waste all her images. \q For she collected them from a prostitute’s pay, \q and they will go back to be a prostitute’s pay. ⁸For this I will mourn and wail; \q I will go about barefoot and stripped. \q I will howl like the jackals \q and mourn like the ostriches. ⁹For her wound cannot be healed; \q it has spread to Judah. \q It has reached the gate of my people, Jerusalem itself. ¹⁰Do not tell it in Gath; \q do not weep at all. \q In Beth-leaphrah, roll in the dust. ¹¹Pass on your way, people of Shaphir, in shameful nakedness. \q The people of Zaanan have not come out. \q Beth-ezel is mourning; \q it will take its support away from you. ¹²The people of Maroth writhe in pain as they wait for relief, \q for disaster has come down from the LORD \q to the very gate of Jerusalem. ¹³Harness the horses to the chariot, people of Lachish! \q You were the beginning of sin for Daughter Zion, \q for the rebellious ways of Israel were found in you. ¹⁴So you will give farewell gifts \q to Moresheth-gath. \q The houses of Achzib will prove a deception \q to the kings of Israel. ¹⁵I will once more bring a conqueror against you, \q people of Mareshah. \q The glory of Israel will come to Adullam. ¹⁶Shave your head in mourning \q for the children you delight in. \q Make yourself as bald as the vulture, \q for they will be taken from you into exile.