Micah 1
About MicahWritten by AI
Micah came from Moresheth, a small town in the hills of Judah, and preached in the late 700s BC, at the same time as Isaiah. He spoke to both Samaria in the north and Jerusalem in the south, warning that wealth gained by seizing fields and cheating neighbors would not escape God's notice.
The book moves back and forth between judgment and hope. Rulers, false prophets, and greedy landowners are confronted, but alongside the warnings come bright promises: nations streaming to God's house, swords beaten into plowshares, and a ruler born in little Bethlehem, a verse Matthew points to at Jesus' birth.
Watch for 6:8, one of the best known summaries of what God asks: “to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” The book ends with wonder at a God who pardons sin and delights in mercy.
Before you read Micah 1Written by AI
God comes down from His holy place, and the mountains melt. Samaria will fall for its idols, and the trouble will reach the gate of Jerusalem. Micah grieves openly. The list of towns is full of wordplays in Hebrew, each name turned into a warning, which is hard to see in English.
Judgment to Come
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:
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.
For behold, the LORD comes forth
from His dwelling place;
He will come down and tread
on the high places of the earth.
The mountains will melt beneath Him,
and the valleys will split apart,
like wax before the fire,
like water rushing down a slope.
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?
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.
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.
Weeping and Mourning
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.
For her wound is incurable;
it has reached even Judah;
it has approached the gate of my people,
as far as Jerusalem itself.
Do not tell it in Gath; do not weep at all.
Roll in the dust in Beth-leaphrah.
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.
For the dwellers of Maroth pined for good,
but calamity came down from the LORD,
even to the gate of Jerusalem.
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.
Therefore, send farewell gifts to Moresheth-gath;
the houses of Achzib will prove deceptive
to the kings of Israel.
I will again bring a conqueror against you,
O dweller of Mareshah.
The glory of Israel will come to Adullam.
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.