Judgment to Come

(Micah 1:1–7)

17 The LORD will bring on you and on your people and on the house of your father a time unlike any since the day Ephraim separated from Judah—He will bring the king of Assyria.”

18 On that day the LORD will whistle to the flies at the farthest streams of the Nile and to the bees in the land of Assyria.

19 And they will all come and settle

in the steep ravines and clefts of the rocks,

in all the thornbushes and watering holes.

20 On that day the Lord will use a razor hired from beyond the Euphrates [fn]—the king of Assyria—to shave your head and the hair of your legs, and to remove your beard as well. 21 On that day a man will raise a young cow and two sheep, 22 and from the abundance of milk they give, he will eat curds; for all who remain in the land will eat curds and honey.

23 And on that day, in every place that had a thousand vines worth a thousand shekels of silver,[fn] only briers and thorns will be found. 24 Men will go there with bow and arrow, for the land will be covered with briers and thorns. 25 For fear of the briers and thorns, you will no longer traverse the hills once tilled by the hoe; they will become places for oxen to graze and sheep to trample.