King Ahaz of Judah

¹In the seventeenth year of the reign of Pekah son of Remaliah as king of Israel, Ahaz son of Jotham became king of Judah

²at the age of twenty, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years. He did not follow the good example of his ancestor King David; instead, he did what was not pleasing to the Lord his God

³and followed the example of the kings of Israel. He even sacrificed his own son as a burnt offering to idols, imitating the disgusting practice of the people whom the Lord had driven out of the land as the Israelites advanced.

⁴At the pagan places of worship, on the hills, and under every shady tree, Ahaz offered sacrifices and burned incense.

⁵King Rezin of Syria and King Pekah of Israel attacked Jerusalem and besieged it, but could not defeat Ahaz.

⁶(At the same time the king of Edom regained control of the city of Elath and drove out the Judeans who lived there. The Edomites settled in Elath and still live there.)

⁷Ahaz sent men to Tiglath Pileser, the emperor of Assyria, with this message: “I am your devoted servant. Come and rescue me from the kings of Syria and of Israel, who are attacking me.”

⁸Ahaz took the silver and gold from the Temple and the palace treasury, and sent it as a present to the emperor.

⁹Tiglath Pileser, in answer to Ahaz' plea, marched out with his army against Damascus, captured it, killed King Rezin, and took the people to Kir as prisoners.

¹⁰When King Ahaz went to Damascus to meet Emperor Tiglath Pileser, he saw the altar there and sent back to Uriah the priest an exact model of it, down to the smallest details.

¹¹So Uriah built an altar just like it and finished it before Ahaz returned.

¹²On his return from Damascus, Ahaz saw that the altar was finished,

¹³so he burned animal sacrifices and grain offerings on it and poured a wine offering and the blood of a fellowship offering on it.

¹⁴The bronze altar dedicated to the Lord was between the new altar and the Temple, so Ahaz moved it to the north side of his new altar.

¹⁵Then he ordered Uriah: “Use this large altar of mine for the morning burnt offerings and the evening grain offerings, for the burnt offerings and grain offerings of the king and the people, and for the people's wine offerings. Pour on it the blood of all the animals that are sacrificed. But keep the bronze altar for me to use for divination.”

¹⁶Uriah did as the king commanded.

¹⁷King Ahaz took apart the bronze carts used in the Temple and removed the basins that were on them. He also took the bronze tank from the backs of the twelve bronze bulls and placed it on a stone foundation.

¹⁸And in order to please the Assyrian emperor, Ahaz also removed from the Temple the platform for the royal throne and closed up the king's private entrance to the Temple.

¹⁹Everything else that King Ahaz did is recorded in The History of the Kings of Judah.

²⁰Ahaz died and was buried in the royal tombs in David's City, and his son Hezekiah succeeded him as king.

¹During the time that Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah, the Lord gave this message to Micah, who was from the town of Moresheth. The Lord revealed to Micah all these things about Samaria and Jerusalem.

A Lament for Samaria and Jerusalem

²Hear this, all you nations; listen to this, all who live on earth! The Sovereign Lord will testify against you. Listen! He speaks from his heavenly temple.

³The Lord is coming from his holy place; he will come down and walk on the tops of the mountains.

⁴Then the mountains will melt under him like wax in a fire; they will pour down into the valleys like water pouring down a hill.

⁵All this will happen because the people of Israel have sinned and rebelled against God. Who is to blame for Israel's rebellion? Samaria, the capital city itself Who is guilty of idolatry in Judah? Jerusalem itself

⁶So the Lord says, “I will make Samaria a pile of ruins in the open country, a place for planting grapevines. I will pour the rubble of the city down into the valley, and will lay bare the city's foundations.

⁷All its precious idols will be smashed to pieces, everything given to its temple prostitutes will be destroyed by fire, and all its images will become a desolate heap. Samaria acquired these things for its fertility rites, and now her enemies will carry them off for temple prostitutes elsewhere.”

⁸Then Micah said, “Because of this I will mourn and lament. To show my sorrow, I will walk around barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and wail like an ostrich.

⁹Samaria's wounds cannot be healed, and Judah is about to suffer in the same way; destruction has reached the gates of Jerusalem itself, where my people live.”

The Enemy Approaches Jerusalem

¹⁰Don't tell our enemies in Gath about our defeat; don't let them see you weeping. People of Beth Leaphrah, show your despair by rolling in the dust!

¹¹You people of Shaphir, go into exile, naked and ashamed. Those who live in Zaanan do not dare to come out of their city. When you hear the people of Bethezel mourn, you will know that there is no refuge there.

¹²The people of Maroth anxiously wait for relief, because the Lord has brought disaster close to Jerusalem.

¹³You that live in Lachish, hitch the horses to the chariots. You imitated the sins of Israel and so caused Jerusalem to sin.

¹⁴And now, people of Judah, say good-bye to the town of Moresheth Gath. The kings of Israel will get no help from the town of Achzib.

¹⁵People of Mareshah, the Lord will hand you over to an enemy, who is going to capture your town. The leaders of Israel will go and hide in the cave at Adullam.

¹⁶People of Judah, cut off your hair in mourning for the children you love. Make yourselves as bald as vultures, because your children will be taken away from you into exile.

The Fate of Those Who Oppress the Poor

¹How terrible it will be for those who lie awake and plan evil! When morning comes, as soon as they have the chance, they do the evil they planned.

²When they want fields, they seize them; when they want houses, they take them. No one's family or property is safe.

³And so the Lord says, “I am planning to bring disaster on you, and you will not be able to escape it. You are going to find yourselves in trouble, and then you will not walk so proudly any more.

⁴When that time comes, people will use the story about you as an example of disaster, and they will sing this song of despair about your experience: We are completely ruined! The Lord has taken our land away And given it to those who took us captive.”

⁵So then, when the time comes for the land to be given back to the Lord's people, there will be no share for any of you.

⁶The people preach at me and say, “Don't preach at us. Don't preach about all that. God is not going to disgrace us.

⁷Do you think the people of Israel are under a curse? Has the Lord lost his patience? Would he really do such things? Doesn't he speak kindly to those who do right?”

⁸The Lord replies, “You attack my people like enemies. Men return from battle, thinking they are safe at home, but there you are, waiting to steal the coats off their backs.

⁹You drive the women of my people out of the homes they love, and you have robbed their children of my blessings forever.

¹⁰Get up and go; there is no safety here any more. Your sins have doomed this place to destruction.

¹¹“These people want the kind of prophet who goes around full of lies and deceit and says, ‘I prophesy that wine and liquor will flow for you.’

¹²“But I will gather you together, all you people of Israel that are left. I will bring you together like sheep returning to the fold. Like a pasture full of sheep, your land will once again be filled with many people.”

¹³God will open the way for them and lead them out of exile. They will break out of the city gates and go free. Their king, the Lord himself, will lead them out.

Micah Denounces Israel's Leaders

¹Listen, you rulers of Israel! You are supposed to be concerned about justice,

²yet you hate what is good and you love what is evil. You skin my people alive and tear the flesh off their bones.

³You eat my people up. You strip off their skin, break their bones, and chop them up like meat for the pot.

⁴The time is coming when you will cry out to the Lord, but he will not answer you. He will not listen to your prayers, for you have done evil.

⁵My people are deceived by prophets who promise peace to those who pay them, but threaten war for those who don't. To these prophets the Lord says,

⁶“Prophets, your day is almost over; the sun is going down on you. Because you mislead my people, you will have no more prophetic visions, and you will not be able to predict anything.”

⁷Those who predict the future will be disgraced by their failure. They will all be humiliated because God does not answer them.

⁸But as for me, the Lord fills me with his spirit and power, and gives me a sense of justice and the courage to tell the people of Israel what their sins are.

⁹Listen to me, you rulers of Israel, you that hate justice and turn right into wrong.

¹⁰You are building God's city, Jerusalem, on a foundation of murder and injustice.

¹¹The city's rulers govern for bribes, the priests interpret the Law for pay, the prophets give their revelations for money—and they all claim that the Lord is with them. “No harm will come to us,” they say. “The Lord is with us.”

¹²And so, because of you, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a pile of ruins, and the Temple hill will become a forest.

The Lord's Universal Reign of Peace

¹In days to come the mountain where the Temple stands will be the highest one of all, towering above all the hills. Many nations will come streaming to it,

²and their people will say, “Let us go up the hill of the Lord, to the Temple of Israel's God. He will teach us what he wants us to do; we will walk in the paths he has chosen. For the Lord's teaching comes from Jerusalem; from Zion he speaks to his people.”

³He will settle disputes among the nations, among the great powers near and far. They will hammer their swords into plows and their spears into pruning knives. Nations will never again go to war, never prepare for battle again.

⁴Everyone will live in peace among their own vineyards and fig trees, and no one will make them afraid. The Lord Almighty has promised this.

⁵Each nation worships and obeys its own god, but we will worship and obey the Lord our God forever and ever.

Israel Will Return from Exile

⁶“The time is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will gather together the people I punished, those who have suffered in exile.

⁷They are crippled and far from home, but I will make a new beginning with those who are left, and they will become a great nation. I will rule over them on Mount Zion from that time on and forever.”

⁸And you, Jerusalem, where God, like a shepherd from his lookout tower, watches over his people, will once again be the capital of the kingdom that was yours.

⁹Why do you cry out so loudly? Why are you suffering like a woman in labor? Is it because you have no king, and your counselors are dead?

¹⁰Twist and groan, people of Jerusalem, like a woman giving birth, for now you will have to leave the city and live in the open country. You will have to go to Babylon, but there the Lord will save you from your enemies.

¹¹Many nations have gathered to attack you. They say, “Jerusalem must be destroyed! We will see this city in ruins!”

¹²But these nations do not know what is in the Lord's mind. They do not realize that they have been gathered together to be punished in the same way that grain is brought in to be threshed.

¹³The Lord says, “People of Jerusalem, go and punish your enemies! I will make you as strong as a bull with iron horns and bronze hoofs. You will crush many nations, and the wealth they got by violence you will present to me, the Lord of the whole world.”

God's Complete Knowledge and Care

¹Lord, you have examined me and you know me.

²You know everything I do; from far away you understand all my thoughts.

³You see me, whether I am working or resting; you know all my actions.

⁴Even before I speak, you already know what I will say.

⁵You are all around me on every side; you protect me with your power.

⁶Your knowledge of me is too deep; it is beyond my understanding.

⁷Where could I go to escape from you? Where could I get away from your presence?

⁸If I went up to heaven, you would be there; if I lay down in the world of the dead, you would be there.

⁹If I flew away beyond the east or lived in the farthest place in the west,

¹⁰you would be there to lead me, you would be there to help me.

¹¹I could ask the darkness to hide me or the light around me to turn into night,

¹²but even darkness is not dark for you, and the night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are the same to you.

¹³You created every part of me; you put me together in my mother's womb.

¹⁴I praise you because you are to be feared; all you do is strange and wonderful. I know it with all my heart.

¹⁵When my bones were being formed, carefully put together in my mother's womb, when I was growing there in secret, you knew that I was there—

¹⁶you saw me before I was born. The days allotted to me had all been recorded in your book, before any of them ever began.

¹⁷O God, how difficult I find your thoughts; how many of them there are!

¹⁸If I counted them, they would be more than the grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you.

¹⁹O God, how I wish you would kill the wicked! How I wish violent people would leave me alone!

²⁰They say wicked things about you; they speak evil things against your name.

²¹O Lord, how I hate those who hate you! How I despise those who rebel against you!

²²I hate them with a total hatred; I regard them as my enemies.

²³Examine me, O God, and know my mind; test me, and discover my thoughts.

²⁴Find out if there is any evil in me and guide me in the everlasting way.