1 The word of the Lord, which came to Micah the Morashite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Hear, all you peoples!
Listen, earth and everything in it,
that the Sovereign Lord may be a witness against you,
the Lord from His holy temple.
Judgment Against Samaria and Jerusalem
3 Look! The Lord is coming out from His place,
so that He might come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
4 The mountains will melt beneath Him,
and the valleys split apart
like wax before the fire,
like waters deluged down a slope.
5 All this because of the transgression of Jacob
and because of 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?
6 Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the field
for the planting of vineyards.
I will dump her stones into the valley
and expose her foundations.
7 All her idols will be shattered,
and her gifts burned with fire,
and I will annihilate her images,
because she gathered them as the wages of a prostitute,
and as the wages of a prostitute they will again be used.
The Lament of Micah
8 Because of this I will lament and wail,
I will go about barefoot and naked;
I will howl like the jackals
and moan like owlets.
9 For her wound is mortal,
for it has come to Judah;
it has extended to the gate of my people,
to Jerusalem.
10 Do not tell it in Gath,
do not weep at all;
in Beth Ophrah,
roll around in the dust.
11 Pass on your way,
inhabitants of Shaphir, naked and ashamed;
the inhabitants of Zaanan
have not come out.
The mourning of Beth Ezel
has taken from you its foothold.
12 Indeed the inhabitants of Maroth
wait anxiously for good,
because calamity has come down from the Lord
to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the chariot to the steeds,
inhabitants of Lachish.
It was the beginning of sin
to the daughter of Zion,
because in you were found
the transgressions of Israel.
14 Therefore you will give parting gifts
to Moresheth Gath;
the houses of Akzib will be deception
to the kings of Israel.
15 I will again bring a conqueror to you,
inhabitants of Mareshah;
the glory of Israel
will come to Adullam.
16 Make yourself bald and shave your head
for the children of your delight;
make yourself as bald as the eagle,
for they will go from you into exile.