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The word of the L ord that came to Micah of Moresheth in the days of Kings Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

Judgment Pronounced against Samaria

Hear, you peoples, all of you;

listen, O earth, and all that is in it;

and let the Lord G od be a witness against you,

the Lord from his holy temple.

For lo, the L ord is coming out of his place,

and will come down and tread upon the high places of the earth.

Then the mountains will melt under him

and the valleys will burst open,

like wax near the fire,

like waters poured down a steep place.

All this is for the transgression of Jacob

and for 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?

Therefore I will make Samaria a heap in the open country,

a place for planting vineyards.

I will pour down her stones into the valley,

and uncover her foundations.

All her images shall be beaten to pieces,

all her wages shall be burned with fire,

and all her idols I will lay waste;

for as the wages of a prostitute she gathered them,

and as the wages of a prostitute they shall again be used.

The Doom of the Cities of Judah

For this I will lament and wail;

I will go barefoot and naked;

I will make lamentation like the jackals,

and mourning like the ostriches.

For her wound is incurable.

It has come to Judah;

it has reached to the gate of my people,

to Jerusalem.

Tell it not in Gath,

weep not at all;

in Beth-leaphrah

roll yourselves in the dust.

Pass on your way,

inhabitants of Shaphir,

in nakedness and shame;

the inhabitants of Zaanan

do not come forth;

Beth-ezel is wailing

and shall remove its support from you.

For the inhabitants of Maroth

wait anxiously for good,

yet disaster has come down from the L ord

to the gate of Jerusalem.

Harness the steeds to the chariots,

inhabitants of Lachish;

it was the beginning of sin

to daughter Zion,

for in you were found

the transgressions of Israel.

Therefore you shall give parting gifts

to Moresheth-gath;

the houses of Achzib shall be a deception

to the kings of Israel.

I will again bring a conqueror upon you,

inhabitants of Mareshah;

the glory of Israel

shall come to Adullam.

Make yourselves bald and cut off your hair

for your pampered children;

make yourselves as bald as the eagle,

for they have gone from you into exile.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Prophet seems here to be inconsistent with himself: for he first describes the calamity that was to be evident to all; but now he commands silence, lest the report should reach the enemies. But there is here nothing contradictory; for the evil itself could not be hid, since the whole kingdom of Israel would be desolated, the cities demolished or burnt, the whole country spoiled and laid waste, and then the enemies would enter the borders of Judah: and when Jerusalem should have been nearly taken how could it have been concealed? No, this could not have been. There is no wonder then that the Prophet had referred here to a solemn mourning. But he now speaks of the feeling of those who were desirous of hiding their own disgrace, especially from their enemies and aliens: for it is an indignity which greatly vexes us, when enemies taunt us, and upbraid us in our misfortunes; when no hope remains, we at least wish to perish in secret, so that no reproach and disgrace should accompany our death; for dishonor is often harder to be borne, and wounds us more grievously, than any other evil. The Prophet then means that the Israelites would not only be miserable, but would also be subject to the reproaches and taunts of their enemies. We indeed know that the Philistine were inveterate in their hatred to the people of God; and we know that they ever took occasion to upbraid them with their evils and calamities.

This then is the meaning of the Prophet, when he says, In Gath declare it not, by weeping weep not; as though he said, “Though extreme evils shall come upon you, yet seek to perish in silence; for you will find that your enemies will gape for the opportunity to cut you with their taunts, when they shall see you thus miserable. He then forbids the people’s calamities to be told in Gath; for the Philistine usually desired nothing more than the opportunity to torment the people of God with reproaches.

It now follows, In the house of Aphrah, in dust roll thyself There is here an alliteration which cannot be conveyed in Latin: for עפרה, ophre, means dusty, and עפר, opher, is dust. That city attained its name from its situation, because the country where it was, was full of dust; as if a city were called Lutosa, muddy or full of clay; and indeed many think that Lutetia (Paris) had hence derived its name. And he says, Roll thyself in dust, in the house full of dust; as though he had said that the name would be now most suitable, for the ruin of the city would constrain all neighboring cities to be in mourning to cast themselves in the dust; So great would be the extremity of their evils.

But we must ever bear in mind the object of the Prophet: for he here rouses the Israelites as it were with the sharpest goads, who entertained no just idea of the dreadfulness of God’s vengeance, but were ever deaf to all threatening. The Prophet then shows that the execution of this vengeance which he denounced was ready at hand; and he himself not only mourned, but called others also to mourning. He speaks of the whole country, as we shall see by what follows. I shall quickly run over the whole of this chapter; for there is no need of long explanation, as you will find.