1 The Word of Jehovah that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem:
2 Hear, all you people. Take heed, O earth, and all the fullness of it. And let the Lord Jehovah be a witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple.
3 For behold, Jehovah is coming out of His place, and He will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
4 And the mountains shall melt under Him, and the valleys shall burst open, as wax before the fire, as waters poured out on a steep place.
5 All this is against the transgression of Jacob, and against the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression 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 a ruinous heap of the field, places for planting a vineyard. And I will pour down her stones into the valley, and I will uncover her foundations.
7 And all her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, and all her wages of harlotry shall be burned with fire. And I will make all her idols a desolation. For she gathered it from the wages of a harlot, and they shall return to the wages of a harlot.
8 Therefore I will wail and howl; I will go stripped and naked; I will make a wailing like the jackals, and mourning like the daughters of the owl.
9 For her wounds are incurable; for it has come to Judah; it has reached to the gate of my people, to Jerusalem.
10 Do not declare it in Gath; do not weep and wail. In Beth Aphrah roll and wallow in dust.
11 Pass over, you inhabitant of Shaphir, having your shame naked. The inhabitant of Zaanan has not gone out; Beth Ezel mourns; its standing place is taken from you.
12 For the inhabitant of Maroth waited anxiously for good, but evil came down from Jehovah to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 O inhabitant of Lachish, harness the chariot to the swift steeds; she is the beginning of sin to the daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
14 Therefore you shall give parting gifts to Moresheth Gath. The houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel.
15 Yet I will bring an heir to you, O inhabitant of Mareshah. The glory of Israel shall come unto Adullam.
16 Make yourself bald, and cut off your hair for your dainty children. Enlarge your baldness like the eagle, for they have gone from you into exile.