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Micah 1

KJV · Chapter 1/7

1The word of the Lord that came to Micah the Morasthite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

2Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord God be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.

3For, behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his place, and will come down, and tread upon the high places of the earth.

4And the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire, and as the waters that are poured down a steep place.

5For the transgression of Jacob is all this, and for the sins of the house of Israel. What is the transgression of Jacob? is it not Samaria? and what are the high places of Judah? are they not Jerusalem?

6Therefore I will make Samaria as an heap of the field, and as plantings of a vineyard: and I will pour down the stones thereof into the valley, and I will discover the foundations thereof.

7And all the graven images thereof shall be beaten to pieces, and all the hires thereof shall be burned with the fire, and all the idols thereof will I lay desolate: for she gathered it of the hire of an harlot, and they shall return to the hire of an harlot.

8Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.

9For her wound is incurable; for it is come unto Judah; he is come unto the gate of my people, even to Jerusalem.

10Declare ye it not at Gath, weep ye not at all: in the house of Aphrah roll thyself in the dust.

11Pass ye away, thou inhabitant of Saphir, having thy shame naked: the inhabitant of Zaanan came not forth in the mourning of Beth–ezel; he shall receive of you his standing.

12For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the Lord unto the gate of Jerusalem.

13O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast: she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion: for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee.

14Therefore shalt thou give presents to Moresheth–gath: the houses of Achzib shall be a lie to the kings of Israel.

15Yet will I bring an heir unto thee, O inhabitant of Mareshah: he shall come unto Adullam the glory of Israel.

16Make thee bald, and poll thee for thy delicate children; enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are gone into captivity from thee.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Micah announces that the Lord is coming to judge Samaria and Jerusalem for their idolatry, describing the destruction that will spread through several towns of Judah through wordplay on their names.

Explanation

Micah prophesied shortly after Amos and Hosea, witnessing both the fall of Samaria (722 B.C.) and later threats against Jerusalem. The chapter uses a sophisticated literary device: puns on the names of towns in Judah (such as Lachish, which sounds like 'horses,' and Moresheth-gath) to make the prophecy of judgment memorable and striking, like a tragic play on words. The root of the accusation is the same as with other prophets: idolatry disguised as religion, with idols funded by cultic 'harlot's wages.' The prophet personally identifies with the pain he announces, lamenting 'barefoot and naked.' The application today: sin that seems confined to a capital city ends up affecting the whole surrounding nation, like ripples spreading outward.

Fun facts

  • Micah was from Moresheth, a small rural town in Judah, making him, like Amos, a prophet of humble origin who confronted the urban and political elite of the capital cities head-on.
  • The wordplay on city names (vv. 10-15) is a device that is almost impossible to carry over fully into another language; for example, 'Lachish' sounds phonetically similar to the Hebrew word for 'chariot horses,' linking the city's name to the very means of its likely destruction.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Micah 1:1Micah was from Moresheth, a small town in the countryside of Judah, and he prophesied during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah — a contemporary of Isaiah, in the late 8th century BC, when Assyria threatened both the Northern Kingdom (Samaria) and the Southern Kingdom (Judah, with Jerusalem). The book speaks against both kingdoms at once.
  2. Micah 1:2A universal summons: all the peoples of the earth are called to listen, because God Himself will be a witness against the people, speaking from His heavenly temple.
  3. Micah 1:3The image of God "coming down" from heaven to intervene directly on earth, treading even upon the highest places — nothing is beyond His reach.
  4. Micah 1:4God's presence is so powerful that the very landscape dissolves, the mountains melt like wax — common biblical language for describing God manifesting Himself.
  5. Micah 1:5Explains the cause of it all: the sin of Israel and Judah, pointing directly at the capitals Samaria and Jerusalem as the source of the rebellion against God.
  6. Micah 1:6This prediction that Samaria would become "an heap of the field" was fulfilled when Assyria actually destroyed the Northern Kingdom's capital, in 722 BC.
  7. Micah 1:7Samaria's idols, bought with money tied to cultic prostitution, will be destroyed and go back to paying for prostitution — a complete cycle of shame.
  8. Micah 1:8The prophet himself expresses extreme, physical mourning — walking barefoot and half-naked, imitating the sounds of wild animals in distress — over the seriousness of what is about to happen.
  9. Micah 1:9Samaria's "wound," the Northern Kingdom's capital, was not contained: it spread all the way to Judah, reaching the gates of Jerusalem itself.
  10. Micah 1:10The names of the cities listed here (Gath, Aphrah, Saphir, and others) form a wordplay in Hebrew tied to each one's fate — for example, "Aphrah" sounds like "dust," and the text tells the city to roll itself in the dust; the poetic effect is lost in translation, but the idea is a march of destruction advancing from city to city.
  11. Micah 1:11The parade of cities struck by the invasion continues, each name carrying a Hebrew wordplay describing its specific fate.
  12. Micah 1:12Maroth waits for good things but only receives pain, because the punishment is already coming down from the Lord to the gate of the capital.
  13. Micah 1:13Lachish, a fortified city of Judah, is accused of being the gateway through which Israel's sins entered Judah — that is why it must flee quickly.
  14. Micah 1:14Moresheth-gath, Micah's own hometown, will have to be given away as a parting gift, and Achzib, whose name sounds like "lie" in Hebrew, will disappoint the kings.
  15. Micah 1:15Mareshah will receive a conqueror, not a friendly heir, and the fleeing people will seek refuge in Adullam, the same place where David hid centuries before.
  16. Micah 1:16"Make thee bald" commands shaving the head as a sign of mourning, an ancient custom of extreme grief — here, over the exile of the children, carried off captive by the enemy.

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