A Lament for Samaria and Jerusalem

1¹ The Lord gave this message to Micah of Moresheth during the years when Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah. The visions he saw concerned both Samaria and Jerusalem. ² Attention! Let all the people of the world listen! Let the earth and everything in it hear. The Sovereign Lord is making accusations against you; the Lord speaks from his holy Temple. ³ Look! The Lord is coming! He leaves his throne in heaven and tramples the heights of the earth. ⁴ The mountains melt beneath his feet and flow into the valleys like wax in a fire, like water pouring down a hill. ⁵ And why is this happening? Because of the rebellion of Israel - yes, the sins of the whole nation. Who is to blame for Israel's rebellion? Samaria, its capital city! Where is the center of idolatry in Judah? In Jerusalem, its capital! ⁶ "So I, the Lord, will make the city of Samaria a heap of ruins. Her streets will be plowed up for planting vineyards. I will roll the stones of her walls into the valley below, exposing her foundations. ⁷ All her carved images will be smashed. All her sacred treasures will be burned. These things were bought with the money earned by her prostitution, and they will now be carried away to pay prostitutes elsewhere."

⁸ Therefore, I will mourn and lament. I will walk around barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and moan like an owl. ⁹ For my people's wound is too deep to heal. It has reached into Judah, even to the gates of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ Don't tell our enemies in Gath ; don't weep at all. You people in Beth-leaphrah, roll in the dust to show your despair. ¹¹ You people in Shaphir, go as captives into exile-naked and ashamed. The people of Zaanan dare not come outside their walls. The people of Beth-ezel mourn, for their house has no support. ¹² The people of Maroth anxiously wait for relief, but only bitterness awaits them as the Lord 's judgment reaches even to the gates of Jerusalem. ¹³ Harness your chariot horses and flee, you people of Lachish. You were the first city in Judah to follow Israel in her rebellion, and you led Jerusalem into sin. ¹⁴ Send farewell gifts to Moresheth-gath ; there is no hope of saving it. The town of Aczib has deceived the kings of Israel. ¹⁵ O people of Mareshah, I will bring a conqueror to capture your town. And the leaders of Israel will go to Adullam. ¹⁶ Oh, people of Judah, shave your heads in sorrow, for the children you love will be snatched away. Make yourselves as bald as a vulture, for your little ones will be exiled to distant lands.

Woe to Those Who Oppress the Poor

2¹ What sorrow awaits you who lie awake at night, thinking up evil plans. You rise at dawn and hurry to carry them out, simply because you have the power to do so. ² When you want a piece of land, you find a way to seize it. When you want someone's house, you take it by fraud and violence. You cheat a man of his property, stealing his family's inheritance. ³ But this is what the Lord says: "I will reward your evil with evil; you won't be able to pull your neck out of the noose. You will no longer walk around proudly, for it will be a terrible time." ⁴ In that day your enemies will make fun of you by singing this song of despair about you: "We are finished, completely ruined! God has confiscated our land, taking it from us. He has given our fields to those who betrayed us. " ⁵ Others will set your boundaries then, and the Lord 's people will have no say in how the land is divided.

⁶ "Don't say such things," the people respond. "Don't prophesy like that. Such disasters will never come our way!" ⁷ Should you talk that way, O family of Israel? Will the Lord 's Spirit have patience with such behavior? If you would do what is right, you would find my words comforting. ⁸ Yet to this very hour my people rise against me like an enemy! You steal the shirts right off the backs of those who trusted you, making them as ragged as men returning from battle. ⁹ You have evicted women from their pleasant homes and forever stripped their children of all that God would give them. ¹⁰ Up! Begone! This is no longer your land and home, for you have filled it with sin and ruined it completely. ¹¹ Suppose a prophet full of lies would say to you, "I'll preach to you the joys of wine and alcohol!" That's just the kind of prophet you would like!

¹² "Someday, O Israel, I will gather you; I will gather the remnant who are left. I will bring you together again like sheep in a pen, like a flock in its pasture. Yes, your land will again be filled with noisy crowds! ¹³ Your leader will break out and lead you out of exile, out through the gates of the enemy cities, back to your own land. Your king will lead you; the Lord himself will guide you."

Israel's Leaders Denounced

3¹ I said, "Listen, you leaders of Israel! You are supposed to know right from wrong, ² but you are the very ones who hate good and love evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh from their bones. ³ Yes, you eat my people's flesh, strip off their skin, and break their bones. You chop them up like meat for the cooking pot. ⁴ Then you beg the Lord for help in times of trouble! Do you really expect him to answer? After all the evil you have done, he won't even look at you!" ⁵ This is what the Lord says: "You false prophets are leading my people astray! You promise peace for those who give you food, but you declare war on those who refuse to feed you. ⁶ Now the night will close around you, cutting off all your visions. Darkness will cover you, putting an end to your predictions. The sun will set for you prophets, and your day will come to an end. ⁷ Then you seers will be put to shame, and you fortune-tellers will be disgraced. And you will cover your faces because there is no answer from God."

⁸ But as for me, I am filled with power- with the Spirit of the Lord . I am filled with justice and strength to boldly declare Israel's sin and rebellion. ⁹ Listen to me, you leaders of Israel! You hate justice and twist all that is right. ¹⁰ You are building Jerusalem on a foundation of murder and corruption. ¹¹ You rulers make decisions based on bribes; you priests teach God's laws only for a price; you prophets won't prophesy unless you are paid. Yet all of you claim to depend on the Lord . "No harm can come to us," you say, "for the Lord is here among us." ¹² Because of you, Mount Zion will be plowed like an open field; Jerusalem will be reduced to ruins! A thicket will grow on the heights where the Temple now stands.

The Two Witnesses

11¹ Then I was given a measuring stick, and I was told, "Go and measure the Temple of God and the altar, and count the number of worshipers. ² But do not measure the outer courtyard, for it has been turned over to the nations. They will trample the holy city for 42 months.

³ And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will be clothed in burlap and will prophesy during those 1,260 days." ⁴ These two prophets are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of all the earth. ⁵ If anyone tries to harm them, fire flashes from their mouths and consumes their enemies. This is how anyone who tries to harm them must die. ⁶ They have power to shut the sky so that no rain will fall for as long as they prophesy. And they have the power to turn the rivers and oceans into blood, and to strike the earth with every kind of plague as often as they wish. ⁷ When they complete their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the bottomless pit will declare war against them, and he will conquer them and kill them. ⁸ And their bodies will lie in the main street of Jerusalem, the city that is figuratively called "Sodom" and "Egypt," the city where their Lord was crucified. ⁹ And for three and a half days, all peoples, tribes, languages, and nations will stare at their bodies. No one will be allowed to bury them. ¹⁰ All the people who belong to this world will gloat over them and give presents to each other to celebrate the death of the two prophets who had tormented them. ¹¹ But after three and a half days, God breathed life into them, and they stood up! Terror struck all who were staring at them. ¹² Then a loud voice from heaven called to the two prophets, "Come up here!" And they rose to heaven in a cloud as their enemies watched. ¹³ At the same time there was a terrible earthquake that destroyed a tenth of the city. Seven thousand people died in that earthquake, and everyone else was terrified and gave glory to the God of heaven.

¹⁴ The second terror is past, but look, the third terror is coming quickly.

The Seventh Trumpet

¹⁵ Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices shouting in heaven: "The world has now become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever." ¹⁶ The twenty-four elders sitting on their thrones before God fell with their faces to the ground and worshiped him. ¹⁷ And they said, "We give thanks to you, Lord God, the Almighty, the one who is and who always was, for now you have assumed your great power and have begun to reign. ¹⁸ The nations were filled with wrath, but now the time of your wrath has come. It is time to judge the dead and reward your servants the prophets, as well as your holy people, and all who fear your name, from the least to the greatest. It is time to destroy all who have caused destruction on the earth." ¹⁹ Then, in heaven, the Temple of God was opened and the Ark of his covenant could be seen inside the Temple. Lightning flashed, thunder crashed and roared, and there was an earthquake and a terrible hailstorm.