Micah 1

The word of God that was to Micah the Morashtite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, {and} Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. \* 2 Hear, peoples, all of them; pay attention, earth, and its fullness, that the Lord God may be against you as a witness, the Lord from the palace of his holiness. 3 For behold, God is going out from his place, and he will come down and tread on the high places of the earth. 4 And the mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax from the face of the fire, like waters poured down a steep place. \* 5 All this {is} because of the transgression of Jacob, and because of the sins of the house of Israel. Who {is} the transgression of Jacob? {Is} it not Samaria? And who {are} the high places of Judah? {Is} it not Jerusalem? \* 6 “So I will make Samaria a ruin of the field, a planting place of a vineyard. And I will pour down her stones into the gorge, and her foundations I will uncover. 7 And all her carved images will be crushed, and all her wages will be burned in the fire, and all her idols I will make a desolation, for from the wages of a prostitute she gathered {them}, and to the wages of a prostitute they will return.” \* 8 On account of this I shall lament and wail; I shall go barefoot and naked. I shall make a lamentation like the jackals and mourning like the daughters of an owl. 9 For her wounds {are} incurable, for it has come to Judah. It has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem. 10 In Gath, do not declare {it}; weeping, do not weep. In Beth Leaphrah, roll yourself in the dust. \* 11 Pass on your way, dweller of Shaphir, {in} nakedness of shame. The dweller of Zaanan has not gone out; the mourning of Beth Ezel will take from you its standing place. 12 Surely the dweller of Maroth writhes for {something} good, but evil has come down from God to the gate of Jerusalem. \* 13 Harness the chariot to the steeds, dweller of Lachish. She {was} the beginning of sin to daughter Zion, for in you were found the transgressions of Israel. 14 Therefore you will give dowry gifts to Moresheth Gath. The houses of Achzib {will} become a deception to the kings of Israel. \* 15 Also a possessor I will bring to you, dweller of Mareshah. The glory of Israel will come to Adullam. 16 Make yourself bald and shave for the sons of your delight. Enlarge your baldness like the eagle, for they have gone into exile from you. \*