First light from a Judean summit: the terraced hill country runs north ridge after ridge into haze, small villages on the slopes, under a calm, pale, empty sky.

Hear, you peoples

Micah 1

God sees what we lean on, and He warns us before it falls.

16 verses≈ 3 min1 personBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–2Hear, you peoplesSamaria falls, Judah mourns, a remnant gatheredChapter 1
3–5Hear, you leadersZion plowed; then the mountain raised and a Ruler from Bethlehem
6–7Hear the LORD’s caseWhat He requires, and who is a God like Him

Judgment to Come

This is the word of the LORD that came to Micah the Moreshite in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah—what he saw regarding Samaria and Jerusalem:

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Micah

Micah 1:2

Micah

May the Lord GOD bear witness against you,

the Lord from His holy temple.

Micah

A towering storm front, its underside lit fire-orange, rolls low over bare summits of the Judean hills; on the nearest summit a tiny hilltop shrine of two standing stones and a rough altar stands beneath it.

For behold, the LORD comes forth

from His dwelling place;

He will come down and tread

on the high places of the earth.

Micah

Micah

The mountains will melt beneath Him,

and the valleys will split apart,

like wax before the fire,

like water rushing down a slope.

Micah

God

God

Therefore I will make Samaria

a heap of rubble in the open field,

a planting area for a vineyard.

I will pour her stones into the valley

and expose her foundations.

God

All her carved images will be smashed to pieces;

all her wages will be burned in the fire,

and I will destroy all her idols.

Since she collected the wages of a prostitute,

they will be used again on a prostitute.

Reflect

What you lean on

Micah’s first word is that God sees what a people builds its life on. What are you leaning on that would not stand if He shook it? Write it down, and tell Him.

Weeping and Mourning

Micah

Because of this I will lament and wail;

I will walk barefoot and naked.

I will howl like a jackal

and mourn like an ostrich.

Micah

Dusk at a plain stone gate of Jerusalem standing open: a few country families with bundles and a donkey hurry in, the road behind them running empty into the haze.

For her wound is incurable;

it has reached even Judah;

it has approached the gate of my people,

as far as Jerusalem itself.

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

Micah’s own country

Micah’s lament walks through the low hills around his own town. Some of the towns he names are lost; these remain.

Micah

Do not tell it in Gath; do not weep at all.

Roll in the dust in Beth-leaphrah.

Depart in shameful nakedness,

O dwellers of Shaphir.

The dwellers of Zaanan

will not come out.

Beth-ezel is in mourning;

its support is taken from you.

For the dwellers of Maroth pined for good,

but calamity came down from the LORD,

even to the gate of Jerusalem.

Micah

Micah

Harness your chariot horses,

O dweller of Lachish.

You were the beginning of sin to the Daughter of Zion,

for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.

Micah

Therefore, send farewell gifts to Moresheth-gath;

the houses of Achzib will prove deceptive

to the kings of Israel.

God

I will again bring a conqueror against you,

O dweller of Mareshah.

The glory of Israel will come to Adullam.

Micah

Gray morning: a few families with bundles, children and donkeys walk away along a valley road out of the low foothills, seen from behind and far off, a small walled town on its mound behind them.

Shave yourselves bald and cut off your hair

in mourning for your precious children;

make yourselves as bald as an eagle,

for they will go from you into exile.

0:11

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Question

Quick question

Gath, Beth-leaphrah, Shaphir, Zaanan, Lachish. Micah’s lament reads like a list of towns.

Why does Micah list towns in verses 10–15?

You’ve experienced

Micah 1

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A verse to carry with you

Hear, O peoples, all of you; listen, O earth, and everyone in it!

Micah 1:2

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