Micah 1

These are the messages that God gave to Micah, who was from {the town of} Moresheth {in Judah}. God gave these messages to Micah during the time when Jotham, {then} Ahaz, and {then} Hezekiah ruled as kings of Judah. These are messages about what God showed Micah would happen to Samaria and to Jerusalem. \* 2 Hear this, all you people everywhere on the earth! The Lord God is about to testify against you from the holy place where he rules {in heaven}. 3 But now look! God is about to come out from heaven and come down to the earth where he will walk on the tops of the mountains. 4 {He is so powerful that it will be as though} the mountains will melt beneath him as easily as wax melts near a fire and as quickly as water rushes down a hillside, and the valleys will split apart. \* 5 All of this will happen because the people of Israel, the descendants of Jacob, have sinned {against God}. It was {the leaders of the people in} the city of Samaria who led all of the descendants of Jacob to sin! It was {the leaders of the people in} Jerusalem who led the people of Judah {to worship idols} on the hilltops! \* 6 So God says, “I will turn the city of Samaria into a heap of rubble in the countryside; it will be a place for planting vineyards. I will roll the stones of its buildings down into the valley and strip the buildings down to their foundations. 7 Enemies will smash all of the idols in Samaria to pieces and burn up all the gifts that people gave at the idol temples. I will make all of the idols there into ruins because the people of Samaria collected these precious things by their business of prostitution at the temples, so enemies will carry them off and use them to pay prostitutes elsewhere.” \* 8 Because of all of this, I will weep and wail. I will walk around without my sandals and without my clothes. I will howl like a jackal and cry out like a family of owls. 9 This is because nothing now can stop God from destroying Samaria. And because the same thing will also happen to Judah; {it is as though} the enemy army has arrived {already} at the gates of Jerusalem, the city where my people live. 10 Do not tell {our enemies in the city of} Gath {about this}! Certainly do not cry aloud! Instead, roll in the dust at Beth Leaphrah. \* 11 You people who live in Shaphir will march away naked and ashamed. The people of Zaanan will not go out {to help you}. The people of Beth Ezel will mourn, and by their mourning {you will know that} Beth Ezel will not help you stand {against the enemy}. 12 Indeed, the people of Maroth wait anxiously for something good to happen{, but nothing good will come}. Instead, God has caused terrible things to happen, all the way to the gates of Jerusalem. \* 13 You people of Lachish, hitch your swift horses to your war chariots {and flee}! You were the first ones to lead the people of Zion to sin, because you caused the people of Israel to rebel against God. 14 So you {leaders in Jerusalem} will have to send farewell gifts as you part with the town of Moresheth Gath{, as a father does when giving a daughter in marriage}. The town of Achzib will prove to be deceptive to the rulers of Israel. \* 15 You people of Mareshah, God will bring a conqueror to take over your town, as well. The honored leaders of Israel will go to Adullam {once again to hide in the cave}. 16 {You leaders of Israel,} completely shave your heads {in mourning} for the children whom you love. Shave yourselves completely bald, like an eagle, because your enemies will take your children far away from you into exile. \*