1. During the time that Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah, the word of the Lord came to Micah, who was from Moresheth. He saw these visions about Samaria and Jerusalem.
2. Hear this, all you nations; listen, earth and all you who live on it. The Lord God will be a witness against you, the Lord from his Holy Temple.
3. See, the Lord is coming out of his place; he is coming down to walk on the tops of the mountains.
4. The mountains will melt under him, and the valleys will crack open, like wax near a fire, like water running down a hillside.
5. All this is because of Jacob's sin, because of the sins of the nation of Israel.
6. "So I will make Samaria a pile of ruins in the open country, a place for planting vineyards. I will pour her stones down into the valley and strip her down to her foundations.
7. All her idols will be broken into pieces; all the gifts to her idols will be burned with fire. I will destroy all her idols, and because Samaria earned her money by being unfaithful to me, this money will be carried off by others who are not faithful to me."
8. I will moan and cry because of this evil, going around barefoot and naked. I will cry loudly like the wild dogs and make sad sounds like the owls do,
9. because Samaria's wound cannot be healed. It will spread to Judah; it will reach the city gate of my people, all the way to Jerusalem.
10. Don't tell it in Gath. Don't cry in Acco. Roll in the dust at Beth Ophrah.
11. Pass on your way, naked and ashamed, you who live in Shaphir. won't come out. The people in Beth Ezeln will cry, but they will not give you any support.
12. Those who live in Marothn will be anxious for good news to come, because trouble will come from the Lord, all the way to the gate of Jerusalem.
13. You people living in Lachish, harness the fastest horse to the chariot. Jerusalem's sins started in you; yes, Israel's sins were found in you.
14. So you must give farewell gifts to Moreshethn in Gath. to the kings of Israel.
15. I will bring against you people who will take your land, you who live in Mareshah. will go in to Adullam.
16. Cut off your hair to show you are sad for the children you love. Make yourself bald like the eagle, because your children will be taken away to a foreign land.