Micah 1-3
Easy-to-Read Version
Samaria and Israel to Be Punished
1 During the time that Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah, the word of the Lord came to Micah. Micah was from Moresheth. He saw these visions about Samaria and Jerusalem.
2 Listen, all you people!
Earth and everyone on it,[a] listen!
The Lord God will be a witness against you.
The Lord will come from his holy temple.
3 See, the Lord is leaving his place
to come down and walk on the high places[b] of the earth.
4 The mountains will melt under him
like wax in a fire.
The valleys will break apart
and slide like water rushing down a hill.
5 This will happen because of Jacob’s sin,
because of the sins of the nation[c] of Israel.
Samaria, the Cause of Sin
What caused Jacob to sin?
It was Samaria.
Where is the high place in Judah?
It is Jerusalem.
6 So I will change Samaria into a pile of rocks in the field,
a place ready for planting grapes.
I will push Samaria’s stones down into the valley,
leaving nothing but the foundations.
7 All her idols will be broken to pieces.
And the offerings to her idols will be burned.
I will destroy all her statues of false gods,
because she got them as pay for being a prostitute.
So those things will be taken away
to be used again for paying prostitutes.
Micah’s Great Sadness
8 I will be very sad about what will happen.
I will go without sandals and clothes.
I will cry like a dog.[d]
I will mourn like a bird.[e]
9 Samaria’s[f] wound cannot be healed.
Her disease has spread to Judah.
It has reached the city gate of my people;
it has spread all the way to Jerusalem.
10 Don’t tell it in Gath.[g]
Don’t cry in Acco.[h]
Roll yourself in the dust
at Beth Ophrah.[i]
11 You people living in Shaphir,[j]
pass on your way, naked and ashamed.
The people living in Zaanan[k]
will not come out.
The people in Beth Ezel[l] will cry
and take their support from you.
12 The people living in Maroth[m]
wait for something good to happen,
even though trouble has come down from the Lord
and has reached the city gate of Jerusalem.
13 You people living in Lachish,[n]
get the horses ready for your chariots.
You are guilty of the same sins Israel[o] committed,
and you brought those sins to Jerusalem.[p]
14 So you must give goodbye gifts
to Moresheth[q] in Gath.
The houses in Aczib[r] will trick
the kings of Israel.
15 You people who live in Mareshah,[s]
I will bring someone against you who will take the things you own.
The Glory of Israel
will come into Adullam.[t]
16 So cut off your hair, make yourself bald,[u]
because you will cry for the children you love.
Make yourself bald like an eagle[v] and show your sadness,
because your children will be taken away from you.
The Evil Plans of People
2 Trouble will come to those who make plans to sin.
They lie on their beds making their evil plans.
Then when the morning light comes, they do what they planned,
because they have the power to do what they want.
2 They want fields, so they take them.
They want houses, so they take them.
They cheat a man
and take his house and his land.
The Lord’s Plans to Punish the People
3 That is why the Lord says:
“Look, I am planning trouble against this family.
You will not be able to save yourselves.[w]
You will stop being proud,
because bad times are coming.
4 Then people will sing songs about you.
They will sing this sad song:
‘We are ruined!
The Lord took away our land and gave it to other people.
Yes, he took my land away from me.
He has divided our fields among our enemies.
5 So we will not be able to measure the land
and divide it among the Lord’s people.’”
Micah Is Asked Not to Prophesy
6 The people say, “Don’t prophesy to us.
Don’t say those bad things about us.
Nothing bad will happen to us.”
7 But people of Jacob,
I must say these things.
The Lord is losing his patience
because of the bad things you did.
If you lived right,
I could say nice words to you.
8 But you attack my people like enemies.
You steal the clothes off the backs of people walking by.
They think they are safe,
but you are there to treat them like prisoners of war.[x]
9 You have taken nice houses
away from the women of my people.
You have taken my wealth
away from their small children forever.
10 Get up and leave!
This will not be your place of rest, because you ruined it.
You made it unclean, so it will be destroyed!
It will be a terrible destruction!
11 These people don’t want to listen to me.
But if a man comes telling lies, they will accept him.
They would accept a false prophet if he comes and says,
“There will be good times in the future, with plenty of wine and beer.”
The Lord Will Bring His People Together
12 Yes, people of Jacob, I will bring all of you together.
I will bring together all those in Israel who are still living.
I will put them together like sheep in the sheep pen,
like a flock in its pasture.
Then the place will be filled
with the noise of many people.
13 The “One Who Breaks Through Walls” will push through and walk to the front of his people.
They will break through the gates and leave that city.
They will leave with their king marching before them—
with the Lord at the front of his people.
The Leaders of Israel Are Guilty of Evil
3 Then I said, “Listen, leaders of Jacob and officers of the nation[y] of Israel!
You should know what justice is.
2 But you hate good and love evil.
You tear the skin off the people
and tear the flesh off their bones.
3 You are destroying my people.[z]
You take their skin off them and break their bones.
You chop their bones up like meat to put in the pot!
4 Then you will pray to the Lord,
but he will not answer you.
No, he will hide his face from you,
because what you do is evil.”
False Prophets
5 Some false prophets are telling lies to the Lord’s people. This is what the Lord says about them:
“These prophets are led by their stomachs.
They promise peace for those who give them food,
but they promise war to those who do not give them food.
6 “This is why it is like night for you
and you don’t have visions.
You cannot see what will happen in the future,
so it is like darkness to you.
The sun has gone down on the prophets.
They cannot see what will happen in the future,
so it is like darkness to them.
7 The seers are ashamed.
The fortunetellers are embarrassed.
None of them will say anything,
because God will not speak to them.”
Micah Is an Honest Prophet of God
8 But the Lord’s Spirit has filled me
with power, goodness, and strength.
So I can tell Jacob about his crimes,
and so I can tell Israel about his sins!
The Leaders of Israel Are to Blame
9 Leaders of Jacob and rulers of Israel, listen to me!
You hate the right way of living!
If something is straight,
then you make it crooked!
10 You build Zion by murdering people.[aa]
You build Jerusalem by cheating people!
11 The judges in Jerusalem accept bribes
to help them decide who wins in court.
The priests in Jerusalem must be paid
before they will teach the people.
People must pay the prophets
before they will look into the future.
Then those leaders expect the Lord to help them.
They say, “The Lord lives here with us,
so nothing bad will happen to us.”
12 Leaders, because of you, Zion will be destroyed.
It will become a plowed field.
Jerusalem will become a pile of rocks.
Temple Mount will be an empty hill[ab] overgrown with bushes.
Footnotes
- Micah 1:2 everyone on it Literally, “its fullness.”
- Micah 1:3 high places Here, this might mean simply “hills,” or it might mean places of worship (see “high place” in the Word List).
- Micah 1:5 nation Literally, “house.” This might mean the royal family of that country.
- Micah 1:8 dog Literally, “jackal,” a kind of wild dog.
- Micah 1:8 bird Literally, “ostrich,” a large bird.
- Micah 1:9 Samaria The capital city of the northern kingdom of Israel.
- Micah 1:10 Gath This is a wordplay. This name means “tell.”
- Micah 1:10 Acco This name means “cry.”
- Micah 1:10 Beth Ophrah This name means “house of dust.”
- Micah 1:11 Shaphir This name means “beautiful.”
- Micah 1:11 Zaanan This name means “come out.”
- Micah 1:11 Beth Ezel This name means “house of support.”
- Micah 1:12 Maroth This name means “bitter,” “angry,” or “sad.”
- Micah 1:13 Lachish This name is like the Hebrew word meaning “horse.”
- Micah 1:13 Israel Here, probably the northern kingdom of Israel centered in Samaria.
- Micah 1:13 Jerusalem Literally, “Daughter Zion.” See “Zion” in the Word List.
- Micah 1:14 Moresheth Micah’s hometown.
- Micah 1:14 Aczib This name means “lie” or “trick.”
- Micah 1:15 Mareshah The name means “a person who takes things.”
- Micah 1:15 Adullam A cave that David hid in when he ran away from Saul. See 1 Sam. 22:1.
- Micah 1:16 cut … bald This showed that a person made a special agreement with God or that a person was very sad.
- Micah 1:16 eagle Or “vulture.” See “vulture” in the Word List.
- Micah 2:3 save yourselves Literally, “take your necks off it.”
- Micah 2:8 They think … war Or “Returning from war, they think they are safe.”
- Micah 3:1 nation Literally, “house.” This might mean the royal family of that country.
- Micah 3:3 You are destroying my people Literally, “You who eat the flesh of my people.”
- Micah 3:10 murdering people Literally, “bloodshed.”
- Micah 3:12 empty hill Or “high place,” a term usually used for local shrines (places for worship) where people often worshiped idols.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International
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