Micah, chapter 1
Messages of Judgment against Israel and Judah
Micah announces the Lord's judgment of Israel and Judah. Their leaders are allowing the worship of idols and ignoring God's concern for justice. God will use enemy armies to destroy Samaria and Jerusalem, and the leaders will feel the same pain and powerlessness that they have caused their own people. A message of hope (2.12,13) proclaims that those who survive the days of judgment will once again be gathered together as God's people.
am Micah from Moresheth. And this is the message about Samaria and Jerusalem that the Lord gave to me when Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were the kings of Judah.
Judgment on Samaria
2Listen, all of you!
Earth and everything on it, pay close attention.
The Lord God accuses you from his holy temple.
3And he will come down to crush underfoot
every pagan altar.
4Mountains will melt beneath his feet
like wax beside a fire.
Valleys will vanish like water rushing down a ravine.
5This will happen because of the terrible sins of Israel,
the descendants of Jacob.
Samaria has led Israel to sin,
and pagan altars at Jerusalem have made Judah sin.
6So the Lord will leave Samaria in ruins—
merely an empty field where vineyards are planted.
He will scatter its stones and destroy its foundations.
7Samaria's idols will be smashed,
and the wages of temple prostitutes
will be destroyed by fire.
Silver and gold from those idols will then
be used by foreigners
as payment for prostitutes.
Judah Is Doomed
8Because of this tragedy, I go barefoot and naked.
My crying and weeping sound like howling wolves
or ostriches.
9The nation is fatally wounded. Judah is doomed.
Jerusalem will fall.
10Don't tell it in Gath! Don't even cry.
Instead, roll in the dust at Beth-Leaphrah.
11Depart naked and ashamed, you people of Shaphir.
The town of Bethezel mourns
because no one from Zaanan
went out to help.
12Everyone in Maroth hoped for the best,
but the Lord sent disaster down on Jerusalem.
13Get the war chariots ready, you people of Lachish.
You led Jerusalem into sin, just as Israel did.
14Now you will have to give a going-away gift
to Moresheth.
Israel's kings will discover that they cannot trust
the town of Achzib.
15People of Mareshah, the Lord will send someone
to capture your town.
Then Israel's glorious king will be forced to hide
in Adullam Cave.
16Judah, shave your head as bald as a vulture
and start mourning.
Your precious children will be dragged off
to a foreign country.