This is the prophetic message that the Lord gave to ¹  Micah of Moresheth. He delivered this message ²  during the reigns of ³  Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. The prophecies pertain to ⁴  Samaria ⁵  and Jerusalem. ⁶ 

All this is because of Jacob’s rebellion and ¹  the sins of the nation ²  of Israel. How has Jacob rebelled, you ask? ³  Samaria epitomizes their rebellion! ⁴  Where are Judah’s pagan worship centers, you ask? ⁵  They are right in Jerusalem! ⁶ 

For Samaria’s ¹  disease ²  is incurable. It has infected ³  Judah; it has spread to ⁴  the leadership ⁵  of my people and has even contaminated Jerusalem! ⁶ 

As for you, watchtower for the flock, ¹  fortress of Daughter Zion ²  – your former dominion will be restored, ³  the sovereignty that belongs to Daughter Jerusalem.

Turning to me, the messenger then said, “Cry out that the Lord who rules over all says, ‘I am very much moved ¹  for Jerusalem and for Zion.

I asked, “Where are you going?” He replied, “To measure Jerusalem ¹  in order to determine its width and its length.”

and said to him, “Hurry, speak to this young man ¹  as follows: ‘Jerusalem will no longer be enclosed by walls ²  because of the multitude of people and animals there.

The Lord ¹  said to Satan, “May the Lord rebuke you, Satan! May the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, ²  rebuke you! Isn’t this man like a burning stick snatched from the fire?”

Should you not have obeyed the words that the Lord cried out through the former prophets when Jerusalem ¹  was peacefully inhabited and her surrounding cities, the Negev, and the Shephelah ²  were also populated?

Moreover, the Lord who rules over all says, ‘Old men and women will once more live in the plazas of Jerusalem, each one leaning on a cane because of advanced age.

And I will bring them to settle within Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God, ¹  in truth and righteousness.’

so, to the contrary, I have planned in these days to do good to Jerusalem and Judah – do not fear!

Many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord who rules over all and to ask his favor.

The Lord also will deliver the homes ¹  of Judah first, so that the splendor of the kingship ²  of David and of the people of Jerusalem may not exceed that of Judah.

Moreover, on that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, ¹  half of them to the eastern sea ²  and half of them to the western sea; ³  it will happen both in summer and in winter.

Moreover, Judah will fight at ¹  Jerusalem, and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered up ²  – gold, silver, and clothing in great abundance.

But if any of the nations anywhere on earth refuse to go up to Jerusalem ¹  to worship the King, the Lord who rules over all, they will get no rain.

Judah has become disloyal, and unspeakable sins have been committed in Israel and Jerusalem. ¹  For Judah has profaned ²  the holy things that the Lord loves and has turned to a foreign god! ³ 

The king of Assyria sent his commanding general, the chief eunuch, and the chief adviser ¹  from Lachish to King Hezekiah in Jerusalem, ²  along with a large army. They went up and arrived at Jerusalem. They went ³  and stood at the conduit of the upper pool which is located on the road to the field where they wash and dry cloth. ⁴ 

King Rehoboam solidified his rule in Jerusalem; ¹  he ²  was forty-one years old when he became king and he ruled for seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city the Lord chose from all the tribes of Israel to be his home. ³  Rehoboam’s ⁴  mother was an Ammonite named Naamah.