Micah, 1
1. This is the word of Yahweh which came to Micah of Moresheth during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. These are his visions concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2. Hear all you peoples, let the earth listen and all who are in it. For Yahweh is witnessing against you from his holy temple.
3. Yahweh has come forth from his place, he comes down and treads upon the heights of the earth.
4. Beneath him mountains collapse and valleys melt like wax before the fire, as torrents pouring down the hillside.
5. All this for the crime of Jacob, for the sin of the nation of Judah. What is the crime of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? What is the sin of the nation of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?
6. Therefore I will make Samaria a heap of ruins in the open country, a place for planting vineyards. I will scatter her stones down into the valley and lay her foundations bare.
7. All her carved images will be dashed to pieces and her filthy idols burnt by fire. I will make a waste heap of all her idols for they were made with harlot's wages, and to harlot's wages they will return.
8. For this reason I lament and wail, go barefoot and naked. I shall howl like a jackal and wail like an ostrich.
9. For her wound cannot be healed; rather it has come to Judah. It has reached the capital of my people, Jerusalem.
10. Exult not in Gath; break down and weep in Acco. In Beth-leaphra roll in the dust.
11. Sound the bugle, O people of Shaphir and do not let the dwellers in Zaanan come forth. Mourn greatly, Beth Ezel: your treasures are taken away.
12. Surely they trembled, the people in Maroth, when calamity came down from Yahweh to the gates of Jerusalem.
13. Hitch the horses to the chariot, citizens of Lachish. In you the rebellions of Israel were found and because of you Zion began to sin.
14. Therefore you must give a redress to Moresheth-Gath. The houses of Achzib have become deceitful to the kings of Israel.
15. Again I will bring the conqueror to you, people of Maresha, and the elite of Israel will leave forever.
16. Shave your hair for your delightful children. Make yourself bald as an eagle for they have been deported far from you.