Judgment on Samaria and Jerusalem

1 The prophetic message from the Lord that came to Micah of Mareshah, during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah’s house, which he prophesied about Samaria and Jerusalem. 2 Listen, all you peoples! Pay attention, earth and everything in it! May the Memra of the Lord God testify against you, the Lord from His holy temple.

3 For the Lord is⁠a revealing Himself from the place where His Shekinah dwells. He will reveal Himself and trample the earth’s strongholds. 4 Mountains will dissolve beneath Him, and plains will split apart, like wax before a fire, like water pouring down a slope.

5 All this is because of the offenses of Jacob’s house and the sins of Israel’s house. Where did Jacob’s house offend? Wasn’t it in Samaria? Where did Judah’s house sin? Wasn’t it in Jerusalem?

6 I will turn Samaria into heaps in the fields, a deserted place for planting vineyards. I will throw her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations. 7 All her carved images will be smashed, and all her idols burned. I will leave every house of her worship in ruins. For they were collected from a prostitute’s earnings, and they will be handed over to the house of idol worshipers.

Mourning for Judah

8 Because of this they will mourn and howl, walking naked in chains. They will mourn like jackals and lament like ostriches.

9 For her wound is grievous. It has reached Judah’s house. It has come near to entering my people’s gates, as far as Jerusalem.

10 Do not report it in Gath. Do not weep at all. You who live in houses of dust, cover your heads with ashes.

11 Pass on, inhabitants of Shaphir, exposed, naked, and ashamed. No survivors will come out from the inhabitants of Zaanan. Mourn bitterly for your slain warriors, inhabitants of Beth Zula. You⁠b took desirable houses by force, joining one to another. Because of this, the best of your land will be taken from you.

12 You lived on the best land and hoped for good, but you⁠c refused to return to the Torah. What will you do? For disaster has come down from the Lord to enter Jerusalem’s gates.

13 Prepare the chariots, put bridles on the horses, inhabitants of Lachish. It is where the sins of Zion’s congregation began, for Israel’s rebels were found in you.

14 So you will send gifts to the possessors of Gath. The houses of Achzib will be handed over to the nations, because Israel’s kings sinned by worshiping idols in them.

15 I will again bring dispossessors against you, inhabitants of Mareshah. They will go up to Adullam and enter the territory of Israel’s land.

16 Pull out your hair and throw it away because of your beloved children. Like a vulture whose feathers have fallen out, make your head bald because of your children, for they have gone into exile.