Micah 1
1
Impending Judgment
1This is the prophetic message Yahweh revealed to Micah of Moresheth. He delivered these prophecies during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. These are his supernatural visions # 1:1 The Lord used some spiritual experiences to show Micah what he wanted Micah to say. The Hebrew expresses it as “to see a word.” concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. # 1:1 These two cities were the capitals of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah respectively. They are mentioned as representing the two kingdoms.
2Listen, you peoples—all of you!
Earth, pay attention # 1:2 The Hiphil imperative verb form of qashab employed here carries a significantly stronger meaning than simply “listening.” It denotes “to give attention to.” This sentence indicates that Yahweh regards this divine communication as critically important. —and everyone on it.
From his holy temple,
the Lord Yahweh himself
will testify against you.
3For behold, Yahweh is leaving his dwelling place.
Here he comes to tread upon the high places of the land. # 1:3 See v. 5; Deut. 32:13. The high places were locales of idol worship.
4Mountains melt beneath his feet,
like wax melting near a raging fire.
Valleys are split wide open,
like water pouring down a steep slope.
5All of this is because of the rebellion of Jacob’s tribes,
the sin of the people of Israel.
So who is to blame for the rebellion of Jacob?
Is it not the people of Samaria? # 1:5 Historically, due to the influence of Queen Jezebel (during King Ahab’s reign in 874–853 BC), Samaria became a center for the worship of the fertility gods Baal and Asherah. Samaria thus was a major source of religious corruption throughout Israel. See 1 Kings 16:29–33.
Who is to blame for the idolatry of the high places # 1:5 Or “sin” (LXX, Targum). of Judah?
Is it not the people of Jerusalem? # 1:5 Or literally “What is the high place of Judah? Is it not Jerusalem?” The nominating of the people of Jerusalem as the ones responsible for constructing this idolatrous place of worship in the sacred city is a paraphrase that is clearly implied by this expression.
6“So I will wrestle Samaria to the ground,
and she will become nothing more than an open field for planting vines.
I will roll the stones of her buildings down into the valley
until I have laid bare her foundations.
7I will hammer to pieces all her gilded pagan idols,
all the gifts given to her sacred prostitutes # 1:7 The Hebrew noun ʾetnan denotes the hire, or wages, of a prostitute. The context here clearly indicates shrine prostitutes. The exact nature of these hires or fees is not specified, but the context makes it clear that they will be destroyed by fire. See Deut. 23:18; Hos. 4:14. will be scorched by fire.
I will turn all her precious idols into a pile of rubble.
For she—Samaria—gathered her treasured idols
as a prostitute collects her fees,
and now these idols will become a prostitute’s wages again.” # 1:7 That is, the idols on which Samaria had spent its wealth will be taken away by its invaders to be used for temple prostitutes elsewhere.
Micah’s Lament for Jerusalem and Surrounding Villages
8I will mourn and wail because of this. # 1:8 Verses 8–16 contain prophecies of coming disaster to twelve towns in Judah and Philistia. The prophecies are likely a reference to Sennacherib’s invasion of the land in 701 BC.
I will walk around barefoot and bare # 1:8 That is, naked. to show my sorrow.
I will howl like a jackal
and mourn like an owl. # 1:8 Or “ostrich.” The ways in which Micah showed his sorrow may seem strange to us today, but they were in his day common expressions of deep sorrow and grief.
9For her wound is incurable,
and her infection is spreading to Judah.
It has even reached the gateway of my people,
to Jerusalem itself.
10Show no tears in Showtown (Gath). # 1:10 The Hebrew contains a wordplay lost in translation. The Hebrew word for “show” is nearly identical to Gath. The play on words blends the Hebrew plosive consonants d and th. This translation of vv. 10–16 will attempt to convey the hidden wordplays of the Hebrew.
People of Dusty House (Beth Leaphrah), # 1:10 See Jer. 6:26. The Hebrew contains another wordplay lost in translation. The Hebrew word for “dust” is ʿaphar, which sounds like the last part of Leʿaphrah. The name Beth Leaphrah means “house of [to] dust.”
wallow in the dust of your despair!
11You’ll take a different path, Glamour-Girl-Town (Shaphir); # 1:11 Shaphir is the Hebrew word for “pleasant,” “beauty,” or “glamour.”
you’ll go into exile naked and ashamed.
You citizens of Outbound City (Zaanan) # 1:11 The Hebrew contains a wordplay lost in translation. The words for “come out/outbound” and “Zaanan” sound similar in Hebrew. Zaanan may be a variant spelling of the Zenan mentioned in Josh. 15:37.
are stuck at home.
Your next-door neighbor (Beth Ezel) is in mourning
and will no longer be able to help you. # 1:11 Or “The wailing of Beth Ezel [“house of proximity” or “neighbor”] will take away from you its standing place” or “He takes from you what he desires.” The meaning and interpretation of this sentence are uncertain.
12The women of Bitterville (Maroth) # 1:12 Maroth is perhaps the Maarath mentioned in Josh. 15:59. The name means “bitterness” (see Ruth 1:20 and the first footnote). There may be a wordplay here since bitterness is unpleasant and gives no encouragement to wait for anything good.
writhed in labor pains, hoping for good to come.
Instead, Yahweh sent down disaster
all the way to the gates of Jerusalem itself.
13Start up your chariots,
you people of Ponytown (Lachish), # 1:13 The Hebrew contains a wordplay between Lachish and “start up your chariots” (lit. “harness the chariots to the horses”; larekesh means “to/for [a team of] horses”).
for the sin of the daughter of Zion
can be traced back to you, where Israel’s sin began. # 1:13 Lachish was the first town in Judah that imitated the sins of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.
14People of Judah, give gifts # 1:14 Or “a dowry.” Micah saw a similarity between parents saying goodbye to a daughter when she married and the people of Judah saying goodbye to Moresheth. The sobering, implicit contrast is that in saying farewell to Moresheth Gath, the prophet recognized that this town would soon be wedded in a sense to a godless gentile husband who would act brutally toward her. to Moresheth Gath, # 1:14 The name Moresheth is nearly identical to the Hebrew word for “fiancée.” Moresheth was Micah’s home village (see 1:1). Micah implied that his hometown would fall into enemy hands and no longer be part of Judah. No doubt, this was a painful prophecy for Micah to deliver.
as you would to a daughter who is leaving home to be married.
The Domiciles of Deception (Beth Achzib) # 1:14 There is a wordplay in the Hebrew that is lost in translation. The town name Achzib is nearly identical with the Hebrew word ʾakzab, which means “deceitful” (see Jer. 15:18). Achzib is also mentioned in Josh. 15:44.
will deceive the kings of Israel.
15People of Mareshah, # 1:15 The name Mareshah and the Hebrew word yoresh—meaning “conqueror” or “prince”—sound similar. Although it is possible that Mareshah is an alternative form of Moresheth, it is more likely another village in Micah’s home area (see Josh. 15:44). Yahweh will again bring a conqueror against you,
and the glory of Israel
will flee to the cave of Adullam. # 1:15 Adullam was a cave in which David took refuge when he was fleeing both from King Saul and from Achish, the Philistine king of Gath (see 1 Sam. 22:1). It thus became a symbol for the last hope in a desperate situation. Micah was saying, in effect, that the leaders of Israel (“the glory of Israel” is likely a metaphor for Israel’s princes) would go and hide in the cave at Adullam because of their hopeless, desperate situation, just as David did.
16Cut off your hair and make yourselves bald, # 1:16 Or literally “Enlarge the cutting off of your hair, just like the vulture.” The action represented here constitutes a total tonsure of the head—that is, full baldness, just like a griffon vulture. In the context here, this action denotes extreme anguish, as in a state of desperate mourning.
for your delightful children are taken away. # 1:16 Their “delightful children” may also be a metaphor for the people of the surrounding villages and towns in Judah.
Make yourselves as bald as a vulture,
for your children have been taken away from you into exile. # 1:16 The Hebrew verb galu is in the form of the Qal Preterit and can be translated as either an English future or perfect tense. In this context, such an expression is known as a “prophetic perfect.” In other words, while the populations of these towns have not yet experienced the trauma of being dragged off into captivity, it is certain that they soon will be. Therefore, their fate is expressed as if it has already taken place.
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Micah 1: TPT
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