1 During the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, a message from the LORD {YHWH, Covenant Judge} came to Micah the Morashtite {morashti: from Moresheth}—what he saw about Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Hear, all you peoples; give ear, O earth and its fullness. Let the Lord GOD {Adonai YHWH, Covenant Prosecutor} be a witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple {heikhal: royal shrine}.
3 For behold, the LORD {YHWH, Majestic Judge} is going out from His place and will descend and tread upon the high places {bamotei: cultic sites} of the earth.
4 And the mountains will melt under Him {YHWH, Supreme Authority} and the valleys will split open like wax {donag: soft pliable substance} before the fire, like waters being poured down a slope.
5 For the transgression{pesha: rebellion or covenant breach} of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places{bamot: illicit worship sites} of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem?
6 Therefore I will make Samaria {Shomron: ancient capital city} a heap in the field, a place for planting vineyards {kerem: cultivated land for grapes}, and I will pour down her stones into the valley and uncover her foundations.
7 All her carved images shall be smashed, and all her prostitute’s wages shall be burned in the fire; and all her idols {atzabeha: sorrowful images} I will make desolate. For she gathered them from the wages {etnaneyha: unholy earnings} of a prostitute, and to the wages of a prostitute they shall return.
8 Because of this, I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals {tannim: desert scavengers} and mourning like the daughters of the ostrich {yaanah: eerie caller}.
9 For her wounds are incurable {anushah: beyond healing}; for it has come as far as Judah, and it has reached the gate of my people {ammi: covenant community}, even up to Jerusalem.
10 In Gath {gat: Philistine city}, do not proclaim; do not weep at all {bakho: utter weeping}; in the house of Aphrah, in dust I rolled myself; roll yourself.
11 Pass on, inhabitant of Shaphir {shaphir: Beautiful Town}, in nakedness of shame; the inhabitant of Zaanan did not come out; the mourning of the house of Ha-Etzel will take from you its standing place {emdatto: support base}.
12 For the inhabitant of Marot {Marot: bitter place} waits anxiously for good, for disaster has come down from the LORD {YHWH, Sending Judge} to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 Harness the chariot to the steed, O inhabitant of Lachish {lakhish: fortified city in Judah}; she was the beginning of sin {chatat: moral failure} for the daughter of Zion, for in you the transgressions of Israel were found.
14 Therefore you shall give parting gifts {shilukhim: tribute tokens} to Moresheth-Gath; the houses of Achzib will become a lie {le-akhzav: deceptive thing} to the kings of Israel.
15 Yet I {YHWH, Sovereign Judge} will bring the possessor {hayyoresh: one taking} to you, O inhabitant of Mareshah; as far as Adullam will come the glory of Israel.
16 Make yourself bald and cut off your hair over your delightful children{taanugayikh: beloved sons}; enlarge your baldness like the eagle{nesher: large raptor}, for they have gone from you into exile.