1The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. This is what he saw about Samaria and Jerusalem.
2Hear, all you peoples. Listen, earth, and everything in it. Let the Lord GOD be a witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
3Look, the LORD is coming out from his place. He will come down and walk on the high places of the earth.
4The mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will split open, like wax before the fire, like water poured down a steep slope.
5All this is because of the rebellion of Jacob, and because of the sins of the house of Israel. What is the rebellion of Jacob? Is it not Samaria? And what are the high places of Judah? Are they not Jerusalem?
6So I will make Samaria a heap of stones in a field, a place for planting vines. I will pour her stones down into the valley, and lay her foundations bare.
7All her carved images will be smashed to pieces, and all her earnings will be burned with fire, and all her idols I will leave in ruins. She gathered them from the pay of a prostitute, and they will go back to being the pay of a prostitute.
8So I will wail and howl. I will go about stripped and naked. I will wail like the jackals, and mourn like the owls.
9For her wound cannot be healed. It has come to Judah. It has reached the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.
10Do not tell it in Gath, do not weep at all. In the house of Aphrah roll yourself in the dust.
11Pass on your way, you who live in Saphir, in naked shame. Those who live in Zaanan did not come out in the mourning of Bethezel. He will take from you his place to stand.
12Those who live in Maroth waited anxiously for good, but disaster came down from the LORD to the gate of Jerusalem.
13You who live in Lachish, harness the chariot to the swift horse. She was the beginning of sin for the daughter of Zion, for the rebellious acts of Israel were found in you.
14So you will give parting gifts to Moresheth Gath. The houses of Achzib will be a lie to the kings of Israel.
15I will yet bring an heir to you, you who live in Mareshah. The glory of Israel will come to Adullam.
16Shave your head and cut off your hair for the children you delight in. Make yourself as bald as the eagle, for they have gone from you into captivity.