1. The word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, {cf15I and} Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2. Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
3. For, behold, the LORD cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.
4. And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, {cf15I and} as the waters {cf15I that are} poured down a steep place.
5. For the transgression of Jacob {cf15I is} all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What {cf15I is} the transgression of Jacob? {cf15I is it} not Samaria? and what {cf15I are} the high places of Judah? {cf15I are they} not Jerusalem?
6. Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, {cf15I and} as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.
7. And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered {cf15I it} of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.
8. Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.
9. For her wound {cf15I is} incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, {cf15I even} to Jerusalem.
10. Declare ye {cf15I it} not at Gath, weep ye not at all: in the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust.
11. Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked: the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Bethezel; he shall receive of you his standing.
12. For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem.
13. O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast: she {cf15I is} the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion: for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee.
14. Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moreshethgath: the houses of Achzib {cf15I shall be} a lie to the kings of Israel.
15. Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel.
16. Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.