A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Micah 1
Micah 1 is the opening chapter of the thirty-third book of the Bible. The 16-verse chapter opens the prophet's series of judgments against both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah.
The chapter opens by identifying the prophet: Micah of Moresheth, who prophesied during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah in the late eighth century BC. He addressed Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom, and Jerusalem, the capital of the southern.
The opening image is dramatic. God is described as coming out of his holy temple, treading on the high places of the earth. Mountains melt under him like wax before fire. Valleys split open like wax. All of this is for the transgression of Jacob and the sins of the house of Israel.
The first target is Samaria. The chapter describes the city being made into a heap of rubble in the open country, its stones poured down into the valley, its foundations laid bare. The wages it has earned from idolatry will be burned.
The chapter then turns south. Micah weeps and wails, walking barefoot and naked as a sign of mourning. The disaster from the north will reach all the way to Judah, to the very gate of Jerusalem.
The closing verses contain a series of wordplays on the names of small towns in Judah, each tying the town's name to its coming fate. The chapter ends with a call to mourn and shave the head, because the people will go into exile.
Verse 1. This is the word of the LORD that came to Micah the Moreshite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem:
Verse 2. Hear, O peoples, all of you; listen, O earth, and everyone in it! May the Lord GOD bear witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple.
Verse 3. For behold, the LORD comes forth from His dwelling place; He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.
Verse 4. The mountains will melt beneath Him, and the valleys will split apart, like wax before the fire, like water rushing down a slope.
Verse 5. All this is for the transgression of Jacob and the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?
Verse 6. Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of rubble in the open field, a planting area for a vineyard. I will pour her stones into the valley and expose her foundations.
Verse 7. All her carved images will be smashed to pieces; all her wages will be burned in the fire, and I will destroy all her idols. Since she collected the wages of a prostitute, they will be used again on a prostitute.
Verse 8. Because of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich.
Verse 9. For her wound is incurable; it has reached even Judah; it has approached the gate of my people, as far as Jerusalem itself.
Verse 10. Do not tell it in Gath; do not weep at all. Roll in the dust in Beth-leaphrah.
Verse 11. Depart in shameful nakedness, O dwellers of Shaphir. The dwellers of Zaanan will not come out. Beth-ezel is in mourning; its support is taken from you.
Verse 12. For the dwellers of Maroth pined for good, but calamity came down from the LORD, even to the gate of Jerusalem.
Verse 13. Harness your chariot horses, O dweller of Lachish. You were the beginning of sin to the Daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
Verse 14. Therefore, send farewell gifts to Moresheth-gath; the houses of Achzib will prove deceptive to the kings of Israel.
Verse 15. I will again bring a conqueror against you, O dweller of Mareshah. The glory of Israel will come to Adullam.
Verse 16. Shave yourselves bald and cut off your hair in mourning for your precious children; make yourselves as bald as an eagle, for they will go from you into exile.
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