Micah 1 - Amplified Bible(AMP)

Destruction in Israel and Judah

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

2Hear, O peoples, all of you;

Listen closely, O earth and all that is in it,

And let the Lord God be witness against you,

The Lord from His holy temple.

3For behold, the Lord is coming down from His place

He shall come down and tread on the high places of the earth.

4The mountains shall melt under Him

And the valleys shall be split

Like wax before the fire,

Like waters poured down a steep place.

5All this is because of the rebellion and apostasy of Jacob

And for the sins of the house of Israel (the Northern Kingdom).

What is the rebellion and apostasy of Jacob?

Is it not Samaria?

What are the high places in Judah (the Southern Kingdom)?

Are they not Jerusalem?

6Therefore I shall make Samaria a heap of ruins in the open country,

A place for planting vineyards;

And I will pour her stones down into the ravine

And lay bare her foundations.

7All her idols shall be broken in pieces,

All her earnings shall be burned with fire,

And all her images I shall make desolate;

For from the earnings of a prostitute she collected them,

And to the earnings of a prostitute they shall return.

8¶Because of this I must lament (mourn over with expressions of grief) and wail,

I must go barefoot and naked;

I must wail like the jackals

And lament like the ostriches.

9For Samaria’s wound is incurable,

For it has come to Judah;

The enemy has reached the gate of my people,

Even to Jerusalem.

10 Announce it not in Gath,

Weep not at all;

In Beth-le-aphrah (House of Dust) roll in the dust.

11Go on your way, inhabitants of Shaphir (Beautiful), in shameful nakedness.

The inhabitant of Zaanan (Go Out) does not go out;

The wailing of Beth-ezel (House of Removal) will take away from you its support.

12For the inhabitant of Maroth (Bitterness)

Writhes in pain and waits anxiously for good,

Because a catastrophe has come down from the Lord

To the gate of Jerusalem.

13Harness the chariot to the team of horses,

O inhabitant of Lachish—

She was the beginning of sin

To the Daughter of Zion (Jerusalem)—

Because in you were found

The rebellious acts of Israel.

14Therefore you will give parting gifts

On behalf of Moresheth-gath (Micah’s home);

The houses of Achzib (Place of Deceit) will become a deception

To the kings of Israel.

15Moreover, I will bring on you

The one who takes possession,

O inhabitant of Mareshah (Prominent Place).

The glory (nobility) of Israel will enter Adullam.

16Make yourself bald—shave off your hair

For the children of your delight;

Remain as bald as the eagle,

For your children will be taken from you into exile.