1 The word of Jehovah that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. This is the vision he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem:
2 »Hear, all you peoples! Listen, O earth, and all who are in it! Let the Sovereign Lord Jehovah be a witness against you, Jehovah from his Holy Temple.
3 »For, behold, Jehovah comes out of his place! He comes down and treads upon the high places of the earth.
4 »The mountains melt under him. The valleys split like wax before the fire! Like waters poured down a steep place.
5 »This is because of the transgression of Jacob and the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not the idol worship of Samaria? What is Judahs high place? Is it not Jerusalem?
6 »I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the field. It will be a place for planting vineyards. I will tumble down her stones into the valley! I will uncover her foundations.
7 »All her images will be broken to pieces! All that she has earned will be burned with fire. I will destroy all her idols. She gathered them for the price of a prostitute and for the price of a prostitute they will return.«
8 I Micah will lament and wail. I will go barefoot and naked. I will make a howling like the jackals, and a lamentation like the ostriches.
9 Samarias wound is incurable! It came as far as Judah. It even reached to the gate of my people, Jerusalem.
10 »Do not announce it at Gath, Philistia. Do not weep or show grief. At the house of Ophrah house of dust roll in the dust!
11 »Pass away, O inhabitant of Shaphir, in nakedness and shame. The inhabitant of Zaanan has not come forth! The wailing of Bethezel takes away from you the place where it stands.
12 »The inhabitant of Maroth waits anxiously for good, because bad came down from Jehovah to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 »Bind the chariot to the swift steed, O lady inhabitant of Lachish! You were the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion. The transgressions of Israel were found in you.
14 »Therefore you should give a parting gift to Micahs hometown Moresheth-gath. The houses of Achzib shall be a place of deceit to the kings of Israel.
15 »I will yet bring a conqueror against you, O inhabitant of Mareshah! He will possess you. The glory of Israel will come to Adullam.
16 »Make yourself bald. Cut off your hair for the children of your delight! Enlarge your baldness as the eagle. For your children are gone into exile captivity from you.«