Micah 1:11-13
Living Bible
11 There go the people of Shaphir,[a] led away as slaves—stripped, naked and ashamed. The people of Zaanan dare not show themselves outside their walls. The foundations of Beth-ezel are swept away—the very ground on which it stood. 12 The people of Maroth vainly hope for better days, but only bitterness awaits them as the Lord stands poised against Jerusalem.
13 Quick! Use your swiftest chariots and flee, O people of Lachish, for you were the first of the cities of Judah to follow Israel in her sin of idol worship. Then all the cities of the south began to follow your example.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Micah 1:11 There go the people of Shaphir. In the Hebrew there is frequent wordplay in vv. 10-14. Micah bitterly declaims each town, demonstrating by the use of puns their failures. Shaphir sounds like the Hebrew word for “beauty,” here contrasted with their shame; Zaanan sounds like the verb meaning “to go forth,” here contrasted with the fear of its inhabitants to venture outside; Beth-ezel sounds like a word for “foundation,” which had been taken away from them.
Micah 1:11-13
New International Version
11 Pass by naked(A) and in shame,
you who live in Shaphir.[a]
Those who live in Zaanan[b]
will not come out.
Beth Ezel is in mourning;
it no longer protects you.
12 Those who live in Maroth[c] writhe in pain,
waiting for relief,(B)
because disaster(C) has come from the Lord,
even to the gate of Jerusalem.
13 You who live in Lachish,(D)
harness fast horses to the chariot.
You are where the sin of Daughter Zion(E) began,
for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
Footnotes
- Micah 1:11 Shaphir means pleasant.
- Micah 1:11 Zaanan sounds like the Hebrew for come out.
- Micah 1:12 Maroth sounds like the Hebrew for bitter.
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