Meet John Hill

1 The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

The Coming Destruction

2  Hear, you peoples, all of you; ^{1 1:2 Hebrew all of them}
    pay attention, O earth, and all that is in it,
and let the Lord God be a witness against you,
    the Lord from his holy temple.
3  For behold, the LORD is coming out of his place,
    and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.
4  And the mountains will melt under him,
    and the valleys will split open,
like wax before the fire,
    like waters poured down a steep place.
5  All this is for the transgression of Jacob
    and for 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?
6  Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country,
    a place for planting vineyards,
and I will pour down her stones into the valley
    and uncover her foundations.
7  All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces,
    all her wages shall be burned with fire,
    and all her idols I will lay waste,
for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them,
    and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return.

8  For this I will lament and wail;
    I will go stripped and naked;
I will make lamentation like the jackals,
    and mourning like the ostriches.
9  For her wound is incurable,
    and it has come to Judah;
it has reached to the gate of my people,
    to Jerusalem.

10  Tell it not in Gath;
    weep not at all;
in Beth-le-aphrah
    roll yourselves in the dust.
11  Pass on your way,
    inhabitants of Shaphir,
    in nakedness and shame;
the inhabitants of Zaanan
    do not come out;
the lamentation of Beth-ezel
    shall take away from you its standing place.
12  For the inhabitants of Maroth
    wait anxiously for good,
because disaster has come down from the LORD
    to the gate of Jerusalem.
13  Harness the steeds to the chariots,
    inhabitants of Lachish;
it was the beginning of sin
    to the daughter of Zion,
for in you were found
    the transgressions of Israel.
14  Therefore you shall give parting gifts ^{2 1:14 Or give dowry}
    to Moresheth-gath;
the houses of Achzib shall be a deceitful thing
    to the kings of Israel.
15  I will again bring a conqueror to you,
    inhabitants of Mareshah;
the glory of Israel
    shall come to Adullam.
16  Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair,
    for the children of your delight;
make yourselves as bald as the eagle,
    for they shall go from you into exile.

Woe to the Oppressors

1  Woe to those who devise wickedness
    and work evil on their beds!
When the morning dawns, they perform it,
    because it is in the power of their hand.
2  They covet fields and seize them,
    and houses, and take them away;
they oppress a man and his house,
    a man and his inheritance.
3  Therefore thus says the LORD:
behold, against this family I am devising disaster, ^{3 2:3 The same Hebrew word can mean evil or disaster, depending on the context}
    from which you cannot remove your necks,
and you shall not walk haughtily,
    for it will be a time of disaster.
4  In that day they shall take up a taunt song against you
    and moan bitterly,
and say, “We are utterly ruined;
    he changes the portion of my people;
how he removes it from me!
    To an apostate he allots our fields.”
5  Therefore you will have none to cast the line by lot
    in the assembly of the LORD.

6  “Do not preach”—thus they preach—
    “one should not preach of such things;
    disgrace will not overtake us.”
7  Should this be said, O house of Jacob?
    Has the LORD grown impatient? ^{4 2:7 Hebrew Has the spirit of the LORD grown short?}
    Are these his deeds?
Do not my words do good
    to him who walks uprightly?
8  But lately my people have risen up as an enemy;
you strip the rich robe from those who pass by trustingly
    with no thought of war. ^{5 2:8 Or returning from war}
9  The women of my people you drive out
    from their delightful houses;
from their young children you take away
    my splendor forever.
10  Arise and go,
    for this is no place to rest,
because of uncleanness that destroys
    with a grievous destruction.
11  If a man should go about and utter wind and lies,
    saying, “I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,”
    he would be the preacher for this people!
12  I will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob;
    I will gather the remnant of Israel;
I will set them together
    like sheep in a fold,
like a flock in its pasture,
    a noisy multitude of men.
13  He who opens the breach goes up before them;
    they break through and pass the gate,
    going out by it.
Their king passes on before them,
    the LORD at their head.