BSB MIC Chapter 1

Judgment to Come

(Isaiah 7:17–25)

1 [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:

2 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.

3 For behold, the LORD comes forth

from His dwelling place;

He will come down and tread

on the high places of the earth.

4 The mountains will melt beneath Him,

and the valleys will split apart,

like wax before the fire,

like water rushing down a slope.

5 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?

6 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.

7 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

8 Because of this I will lament and wail;

I will walk barefoot and naked.

I will howl like a jackal[fn]

and mourn like an ostrich.[fn]

9 For her wound is incurable;

it has reached even Judah;

it has approached the gate of my people,

as far as Jerusalem itself.

10 Do not tell it in Gath;[fn] do not weep at all.

Roll in the dust in Beth-leaphrah.[fn]

11 Depart in shameful nakedness,

O dwellers of Shaphir.[fn]

The dwellers of Zaanan[fn]

will not come out.

Beth-ezel[fn] is in mourning;

its support is taken from you.

12 For the dwellers of Maroth[fn] pined for good,

but calamity came down from the LORD,

even to the gate of Jerusalem.

13 Harness your chariot horses,

O dweller of Lachish.[fn]

You were the beginning of sin to the Daughter of Zion,

for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.

14 Therefore, send farewell gifts[fn] to Moresheth-gath;[fn]

the houses of Achzib[fn] [will] prove deceptive

to the kings of Israel.

15 I will again bring a conqueror against you,

O dweller of Mareshah.[fn]

The glory of Israel will come to Adullam.

16 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.