Micah 1–2: They Covet Fields and Seize Them": The Towns of the Shephelah
Scripture: Berean Standard Bible
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:
Hear, O peoples, all of you;listen, O earth, and everyone in it!May the Lord GOD bear witness against you,the Lord from his holy temple.For behold, the LORD comes forthfrom his dwelling place;he will come down and treadon the high places of the earth.The mountains will melt beneath him,and the valleys will split apart,like wax before the fire,like water rushing down a slope.
All this is for the transgression of Jacoband 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 Samariaa heap of rubble in the open field,a planting area for a vineyard.I will pour her stones into the valleyand expose her foundations.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.
Because of this I will lament and wail;I will walk barefoot and naked.I will howl like a jackaland mourn like an ostrich.For her wound is incurable;it has reached even Judah;it has approached the gate of my people,as far as Jerusalem itself.
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 Zaananwill 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.
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.Therefore, send farewell gifts to Moresheth-gath;the houses of Achzib will prove deceptiveto the kings of Israel.I will again bring a conqueror against you,O dweller of Mareshah.The glory of Israel will come to Adullam.Shave yourselves bald and cut off your hairin mourning for your precious children;make yourselves as bald as an eagle,for they will go from you into exile.Woe to those who devise iniquityand plot evil on their beds!At morning’s light they accomplish itbecause the power is in their hands.They covet fields and seize them;they take away houses.They deprive a man of his home,a fellow man of his inheritance.
Therefore this is what the LORD says:
“I am planning against this nation a disasterfrom which you cannot free your necks.Then you will not walk so proudly,for it will be a time of calamity.In that day they will take up a proverb against youand taunt you with this bitter lamentation:‘We are utterly ruined!He has changed the portion of my people.How he has removed it from me!He has allotted our fields to traitors.’ ”
Therefore, you will have no one in the assembly of the LORDto divide the land by lot.
“Do not preach,” they preach.“Do not preach these things;disgrace will not overtake us.”Should it be said, O house of Jacob,“Is the Spirit of the LORD impatient?Are these the things he does?”
Do not my words bring goodto him who walks uprightly?But of late my people have risen uplike an enemy:You strip off the splendid robefrom unsuspecting passersbylike men returning from battle.You drive the women of my peoplefrom their pleasant homes.You take away my blessingfrom their children forever.
Arise and depart,for this is not your place of rest,because its defilement brings destruction—a grievous destruction!If a man of wind were to comeand say falsely,“I will preach to you of wine and strong drink,”he would be just the preacher for this people!
I will surely gather all of you, O Jacob;I will collect the remnant of Israel.I will bring them together like sheep in a pen,like a flock in the midst of its pasture—a noisy throng.One who breaks open the waywill go up before them;they will break through the gate,and go out by it.Their King will pass through before them,the LORD as their leader.