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One-sentence summary: Micah prophesies the Lord's impending judgment upon Israel and also His promise of mercy and forgiveness through a coming Savior.
The word of the Lord comes to Micah in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekia, kings of Judah, concerning Samaria and Jerusalem. "Hear, oh you peoples! Listen, oh earth and all that is in it. Let the Lord God be a witness against you!" The Lord will tread on the high places of the earth. The mountains will melt, and the valleys will be split, for the transgressions of Jacob and the sins of the house of Israel. The sins of Jacob are Samaria, and the high places of Judah are Jerusalem. Samaria will become a heap of ruins. Her idols will be desolate, and she will return "to the pay of a harlot." Micah will wail and mourn for the incurable wounds of Israel. He tells the people to mourn because their children will go away into captivity.
Woe to those who devise iniquity and evil on their beds. They do evil because it is in their power. They oppress others, so the Lord is going to bring disaster upon them. They will lament and say, "We are utterly destroyed." They will say their inheritance has been taken. No one will determine their boundary lines for them. They tell those who prophesy not to "prattle," so they will not prophesy anymore, "[returning] insult for insult." "Do not My words do good to them that walk uprightly?" the Lord says. Yet they do wrong to their neighbors. They will not have rest. When a man walks in a false spirit and prophesies falsely of prosperity, it is he who is prattling. The Lord will surely gather the remnant of Israel like sheep. They will go out by the gate, and their king will pass before them and the Lord at their head. He speaks to the rulers of Israel and tells them that they hate good and love evil and don't know justice. They steal from the people, killing and devouring them. At that time, they will cry to the Lord, but He will not hear them; He will hide His face from them. Concerning the prophets who make His people stray, who say peace but mean war, they will have "night without vision and darkness without divination. The sun will go down on them, and the day will be dark for them." The seers and diviners will be ashamed and will have no answer. God is full of justice and might to declare Israel's sins to them. They pervert justice, building the cities with bloodshed. The priests teach for pay, and the prophets divine for money, yet they say the Lord is among them and no one can harm them. So, Zion will be plowed like a field and Jerusalem a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the temple will be like the bare hills of the forest.
It will come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the Lord's house will be established on the top of the mountains and will be exalted above the hills, and people will flow to it. Many nations will say, 'Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us His ways, and we will walk in His paths. For out of Zion, the law will go forth, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples and rebuke strong nations afar off. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hook. Nation will not lift up sword against nation. Neither will they learn war anymore. But everyone will sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one will make them afraid. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. For all people walk in the name of his god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever." The Lord will gather the lame and outcast and those He has afflicted and make them a remnant and strong nation and reign over them in Mt. Zion forever. The Lord will gather the daughters of Zion like sheaves to the threshing floor.
He tells the people to gather in troops. The judges of Israel will be stricken. But though Bethlehem is little out of the thousands of Judah, yet from her will come the One to be ruler in Israel, "whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting." The Lord will give them up until the time that she who is in labor has given birth. Then, the remnant of His brethren will return to the children of Israel, and He will stand and feed His flock in the name of the Lord, and they will abide. He will be great to the ends of the earth, and this One will be peace. The remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many people, like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass "that tarry for no man nor wait for the sons of men." And the remnant of Jacob will be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people, "like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep who, if he passes through, both treads down and tears in pieces, and none will deliver." Their hand will be against their adversaries, and all their enemies will be cut off. In that day, the Lord will destroy their horses and chariots, cities and strongholds, sorcerers and soothsayers, and their idols, and they will not worship the works of their hands.
The Lord says to Israel to arise and plead their case before the mountains and let the hills hear their voice. He tells the earth to hear the Lord's case against His people, whom He will contend with. He asks them how He has wearied them. He brought them out of Egypt and redeemed them from bondage and sent them Moses. He tells them to remember what Balak king of Moab counseled and what Balaam answered him, to know the righteousness from the Lord. Micah says, "With what shall I come before the Lord and bow myself?.. Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings?... Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams?... Shall I give my firstborn for my transgressions?... He has shown you, oh man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." The Lord's voice cries to the city. Israel's rich men are full of violence and lies, so they will become sick. They will eat but not be satisfied. They will make wine but not drink it, as they walk in the ways of Ahab and his counsel. They will bear the reproach of His people.
"Woe is me, for I am like those who gather summer fruits... there is no cluster to eat." "The faithful man has perished from the earth, and there is no one upright among men... the best of them is like a briar, the most upright... sharper than a thorn hedge." They will be perplexed. "Do not trust in a friend. Do not put your confidence in a companion." "Son dishonors father. Daughter rises against her mother, daughter-in-law against her mother in law. A man's enemies are the men of his own household. Therefore, I will look to the Lord. I will wait for the God of my salvation. My God will hear me. Do not rejoice over me, my enemy. When I fall, I will arise. When I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against Him. Until He pleads my case and executes justice for me. He will bring me forth to the light. I will see His righteousness. Then, she who is my enemy will see, and shame will cover her who said to me, 'Where is the Lord your God?' My eyes will see her. Now, she will be trampled down like mud in the streets. In the day your walls are to be built, in that day, the decree will go far and wide. In that day, they will come to you... from the fortified cities... from sea to sea and mountain to mountain. Yet the land will be desolate because of those who dwell in it and for the fruit of their deeds. Shepherd Your people with Your staff, the flock of Your heritage who dwell solitarily in a woodland, in the midst of Carmel. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in days of old. As in the days when you came up out of the land of Egypt, I will show them wonders. The nations will see and be ashamed of all their might.... They will be afraid of the Lord our God and will fear because of you. Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever. Because He delights in mercy, He will again have compassion on us and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins in the depths of the sea. You will give truth to Jacob and mercy to Abraham which You have sworn to our fathers from days of old."
Thoughts/discussion questions:
Do justice. Love mercy. Walk humbly with your God.
The last part of Micah is so beautiful. Any of its verses can be applied to us today through Christ.