1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, [and] Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

2 Hear, all ye peoples; hearken, O earth, and all that is therein: and the Lord GOD, the Lord from his holy temple shall be [a] witness against you.

3 For, behold, the LORD comes forth out of his place and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.

4 And the mountains shall melt under him, and the valleys shall be split, as wax before the fire, [and] as the waters [that] run down a steep place.

5 All this for the rebellion of Jacob and for the sins of the house of Israel. What [is] the rebellion of Jacob? [is it] not Samaria? and what [are] the high places of Judah? [are they] not Jerusalem?

6 Therefore I will make Samaria into heaps in the field, into a land of vineyards: and I will scatter her stones throughout the valley, and I will uncover her foundations.

7 And all her graven images shall be broken to pieces, and all her gifts shall be burned in the fire, and I will destroy all her idols, for she gathered [it] of the gifts of harlots, and they shall return unto gifts of harlots.

8 Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons and mourning as the owls.

9 For her wound [is] painful, for it is come unto Judah; it is come unto the gate of my people, [even] to Jerusalem.

10 Do not declare [it] in Gath, weep little; roll thyself in the dust for the house of Aphrah.

11 Pass away naked with shame, thou inhabitant of Saphir: the inhabitant of Zaanan did not come forth in the mourning of Bethezel; he shall receive of you for his lateness.

12 For the inhabitant of Maroth was pained because of good; therefore evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem.

13 O thou inhabitant of Lachish, hitch the chariot to dromedaries: for thou [wert] the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion, for in thee the rebellions of Israel were invented.

14 Therefore shalt thou give gifts to Moreshethgath; the houses of Achzib [shall be] a lie to the kings of Israel.

15 Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah; the glory of Israel shall come unto Adullam.

16 Make thee bald, and shave thee for the sons of thy delight; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle, for they are gone into captivity from thee.: