Bible Gateway passage: Micah 1 - English Standard Version (2024)

1The word of the Lord that came to Micah ^(A)of Moresheth ^(B)in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw ^(C)concerning ^(D)Samaria and Jerusalem.

The Coming Destruction

^2(E)Hear, you peoples, all of you;^[a]
(F)pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,
and ^(G)let the Lord God be a witness against you,
^(H)the Lord from his holy temple.
³For behold, ^(I)the Lord is coming out of ^(J)his place,
and will come down and ^(K)tread upon the high places of the earth.
⁴And ^(L)the mountains will melt under him,
and the valleys will split open,
like wax before the fire,
like waters poured down a steep place.
⁵All this is for ^(M)the transgression of Jacob
and for the sins of the house of Israel.
^(N)What is the transgression of Jacob?
Is it not ^(O)Samaria?
And what is ^(P)the high place of Judah?
Is it not Jerusalem?
⁶Therefore I will make ^(Q)Samaria ^(R)a heap in the open country,
a place for planting vineyards,
and I will pour down her stones ^(S)into the valley
and ^(T)uncover her foundations.
⁷All ^(U)her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,
^(V)all her wages shall be burned with fire,
and all her idols I will lay waste,
for from ^(W)the fee of a prostitute she gathered them,
and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

^8(X)For this I will lament and wail;
I will go ^(Y)stripped and naked;
I will make lamentation ^(Z)like the jackals,
and mourning ^(AA)like the ostriches.
^9(AB)For her wound is incurable,
and it has come to Judah;
it has reached to the gate of my people,
to Jerusalem.

^10(AC)Tell it not in ^(AD)Gath;
weep not at all;
in Beth-le-aphrah
^(AE)roll yourselves in the dust.
¹¹Pass on your way,
inhabitants of Shaphir,
^(AF)in nakedness and shame;
the inhabitants of Zaanan
do not come out;
the lamentation of Beth-ezel
shall take away from you its standing place.
¹²For the inhabitants of Maroth
wait anxiously for good,
because disaster has come down ^(AG)from the Lord
to the gate of Jerusalem.
¹³Harness the steeds to the chariots,
inhabitants of ^(AH)Lachish;
it was the beginning of sin
to the daughter of Zion,
for in you were found
^(AI)the transgressions of Israel.
¹⁴Therefore you shall give parting gifts^[b]
to ^(AJ)Moresheth-gath;
the houses of ^(AK)Achzib shall be a deceitful thing
to the kings of Israel.
¹⁵I will again bring ^(AL)a conqueror to you,
inhabitants of ^(AM)Mareshah;
the glory of Israel
shall come to ^(AN)Adullam.
^16(AO)Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair,
for the children of your delight;
^(AP)make yourselves as bald as the eagle,
for they shall go from you into exile.