Micah 1
1 [I am] Micah. I am from [the town of] Moresheth [in Judah]. Yahweh gave me these [messages in] visions about Samaria and Jerusalem during the time when Jotham, [and then] Ahaz, and [then] Hezekiah, were the kings of Judah.
The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morashthite in the days of Jotham, Achaz, [and] Hezekiah, the kings of Judah, which he foresaw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 You people everywhere on the earth, pay attention to this [DOU]! Yahweh our God is accusing you from his holy temple [in heaven].
Hear, ye people, altogether; listen, O earth, with all that filleth it: and let the Lord Eternal be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
3 He will come down [from heaven] and walk on the tops of the highest mountains.
For, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his residence; and he will come down, and will step along upon the high places of the earth.
4 [It will be as though] the mountains will melt under his [feet] like [SIM] wax [melts] in front of a fire, and like [SIM] water [disappears] when it rushes/flows down into a valley.
And the mountains shall melt beneath him, and the valleys shall cleave in twain, like wax [melteth] before the fire, like water poured out on a declivity.
5 Those things will happen because of the terrible sins [DOU] that the people [MTY] of Israel, [the descendants of] Jacob, have committed. But it was [RHQ] [the people of] Samaria [city who persuaded all the people of] Israel to sin, and it was [RHQ] because the people of Jerusalem [set up altars to worship their gods] that [the other people of] Judah [were persuaded to worship idols on] their hilltops.
For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. Who caused the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and who caused the high-places of Judah? is it not Jerusalem?
6 So Yahweh will cause Samaria to become a heap [of rubble/ruins]; [it will be only] a field for planting vineyards. He will cause the stones of its [buildings] to roll down into the valley, and the foundations [of the buildings] will be uncovered.
Therefore will I change Samaria into stone-heaps on the field, into vineyard plantations: and I will hurl down into the valley her stones, and her foundations will I lay open.
7 All the idols in Samaria will be smashed, and the gifts [given to prostitutes at the temples of their idols] will be destroyed in a fire. And because people paid prostitutes there, [their enemies will take away those idols and sell them] to get money to pay to prostitutes [in other countries].
And all her graven images shall he beaten to pieces, and all her wages of sin shall be burnt with the fire, and all her idols will I make desolate; for from harlot's wages she gathered them, and for harlot's wages shall they be used again.
8 Because [Samaria will be destroyed], I will weep and wail. I will walk around (barefoot/without any sandals on my feet) and naked. I will howl like a jackal/wolf and screech like an owl,
For this will I lament and wail; I will go confused and naked: I will make a lament like the crocodiles, and mourning like the ostriches.
9 because Samaria will be completely destroyed [MET]; nothing can save that city. But the same thing will happen to Judah! [It is as though the enemy army] has [already] reached the city gates of Jerusalem, [the main city where] my people [live].
For her wounds arc incurable; for [the evil] is come even unto Judah; [the enemy] hath reached as far as the gate of my people, even up to Jerusalem.
10 Do not tell that to [our enemies] in Gath [city in Philistia]! Do not cry, [lest the people there find out what is happening]! [Instead, just] roll in the dirt in Beth-Leaphrah [because the name of that town means ‘house of dust].’
Tell it not at Gath, weep ye not loudly [there]: in Bethle'aphrah roll thyself in the dust.
11 You people who live in Shaphir [town, whose name means ‘beautiful],’ naked and ashamed, you will be taken [to another country]. [You people in] Beth-Ezel [town] should mourn, [because] no one from Zaanan [town, whose name means ‘one who goes out],’ will go out to help you.
Pass ye away, ye inhabitants of Shaphir, having your shame laid bare: the inhabitress of Zaanan cometh not forth [any more]; the mourning of Beth-haezel taketh from you its halting place.
12 [The name of] Maroth [town sounds like ‘bitterness];’ everyone there is anxiously waiting for good things to happen to them, but good things will not happen to them; instead, terrible things are about to happen to them, and it will soon happen at the gates of Jerusalem.
For the inhabitress of Maroth is grieved for the [lost] good; because evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem.
13 You people of Lachish [city, whose name sounds like ‘team],’ hitch your horses to pull the chariots [in which you can ride to flee from your enemies]. The Israeli people rebelled against Yahweh, and you (imitated them/did the same evil things that they did), and that caused the people of Jerusalem [IDM] to start sinning, too.
Bind the chariot to the swift horses, O inhabitress of Lachish: the beginning of sin was she to the daughter of Zion; for in thee were found the transgressions of Israel.
14 [You people of Judah], send a farewell gift to [the people] of Moresheth [town], [because their enemies will soon destroy it]. [The name of the town Aczib means ‘deception],’ and the kings of Israel [will soon find out that the people of that town] will deceive them.
Therefore shalt thou have to give presents to Moresheth-gath: the houses of Achzib shall become a deception to the kings of Israel.
15 [The name of your town of] Mareshah [means ‘conqueror],’ and Yahweh will [soon] send someone to conquer your town. [It will be necessary for] the great/glorious leaders of Israel to go [and hide in the cave at] Adullam [city].
Yet will I bring an [enemy as] heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: as far as 'Adullam shall withdraw the glory of Israel.
16 [You people of Judah], shave your heads [while you will be mourning], because your children whom you love will [soon] be (exiled/forced to leave you and go to another country).
Make thyself bald, and cut off thy hair for the children of thy delight; enlarge thy baldness like the eagle; because they are gone into exile from thee.
