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 1

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

2

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.

3

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

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

4

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.

5

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?

6

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.

7

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

8

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.

9

For her wound is incurable.

It has come to Judah;

it has reached to the gate of my people,

to Jerusalem.

 

10

Tell it not in Gath,

weep not at all;

in Beth-leaphrah

roll yourselves in the dust.

11

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.

12

For the inhabitants of Maroth

wait anxiously for good,

yet disaster has come down from the L ord

to the gate of Jerusalem.

13

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.

14

Therefore you shall give parting gifts

to Moresheth-gath;

the houses of Achzib shall be a deception

to the kings of Israel.

15

I will again bring a conqueror upon you,

inhabitants of Mareshah;

the glory of Israel

shall come to Adullam.

16

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.

 


The Prophet here threatens his own birth place, as he had done other cities; for, as we have stated, he sprung from this city. He does not now spare his own kindred: for as God is no respecter of persons, so also God’s servants ought, as with closed eyes, to deal impartially with all, so as not to be turned here and there either by favor or by hatred, but to follows without any change, whatever the Lord commands them. We see that Micah was endued with this spirit, for he reproved his own kindred, as he had hitherto reproved others.

There is a peculiar meaning in the word, Mareshah, for it is derived from ירש, iresh, and it means possession. The Prophet now says, I will send to thee הורש, euresh, a possessor; the word is from the same root. 7575     The instances of paranomasia or alliteration in this passage, including this line and the five preceding verses, are unparalleled in any other parts of the Prophets; and when there is no coincidence of sound in the words, there is sometimes a direct contrast in the ideas, as good and evil in verse12. — Ed. But he means that the Morasthites would come into the power of their enemies no less than their neighbors, of whom he had spoken before. He says, to Adullam This was also a city in the tribe of Judah, as it is well known. But some would have “enemy” to be here understood and they put כבוד, cabud, in the genitive case: The enemy of the glory of Israel shall come to Adullam; but this is strained. Others understand the passage thus that the glory of Israel would come to disgrace; for Adullam, we know, was a cave. Since then it an obscure place, the Prophet here, as they think, declares that the whole glory of Israel would be covered with dishonor, because the dignity and wealth, in which they gloried would lose their pristine fixate, so that they would differ nothing from an ignoble cave. If any approve of this meaning, I will not oppose them. Yet others think that the Prophet speaks ironically and that the Assyrian is thus called because the whole glory and dignity of Israel would by him be taken away. But there is no need of confining this to enemies; we may then take a simpler view, and yet regard the expression as ironical, — that the glory, that is, the disgrace or the devastation of Israel, would come to Adullam. But what if we read it, in apposition, He shall come to Adullam, the glory of Israel? For Adullam was not obscure, as those interpreters imagine, whom I have mentioned, but it is named among the most celebrated cities after the return and restoration of the people. When, therefore, the whole country was laid waste, this city, with a few others, remained, as we read in the Nehemiah 11. It might then be, that the Prophet called Adullam the glory of Israel; for it was situated in a safe place, and the inhabitants thought that they were fortified by a strong defense, and thus were not open to the violence of enemies. This meaning also may be probable; but still, as the glory of Israel may be taken ironically for calamity or reproach if any one approves more of this interpretation, it may be followed. I am, however, inclined to another, — that the Prophet say, that the enemy would come to Adullam, which was the glory of Israel, 7676     Of all the various renderings of this clause, this is the most satisfactory, which is that of our own version. The substitution of “honor” for “glory,” on the mere authority of the Targum, as is done by Newcome, is wholly indefensible.
   Εως Οδαλαμ ἤξει την δοξην Ισραηλ, Symmachus. At the same time, the most obvious and natural construction of the clause is the following, though its meaning is obscure; To Adullam shall come the glory of Israel. — Ed.
because that city was as it were in the recesses of Judea, so that an access to it by enemies was difficult. It may be also that some may think, that the recollection of its ancient history is here revived; for David concealed himself in its cave, and had it as his fortress. The place no doubt had, from that time, attained some fame; then this celebrity, as I have said, may be alluded to, when Adullam is said to be the glory of Israel. It follows —


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