2. Listen, all you peoples, / hearken, earth and its fullness. The beginning of Micah’s prophecies is close to the formulaic beginning of long poems (compare Isaiah 1 and Deuteronomy 32), although instead of invoking the heavens and the earth, it invokes the sundry peoples of the earth.

5. For Jacob’s trespass all this has happened. Because the imagery of the preceding lines has expressed a global upheaval, Micah appears to be making a theologically novel point—that the offenses of Israel are so grave that they will trigger a cataclysm that will roil the whole earth.

Judah’s high places. Micah’s chief emphasis will be on social injustice, but this is a reference to cultic disloyalty, the “high places” being the rural hilltop shrines. The Septuagint, however, reads here “offense” instead of “high places.”

6. And I will make Samaria a ruined heap in the field. Jotham, the first of the three kings under whom Micah prophesied, began his reign in 758 B.C.E. The last of the three, Ahaz, ended his reign in 698 B.C.E. While there is no way of knowing when in this span Micah began and completed his prophetic mission, the mention in this prophecy of the future destruction of Samaria would have to occur before its conquest by Assyria in 721 B.C.E.

a place for the planting of vineyards. Where once a city stood, there will be only a flat field suitable for such planting.

I will pour down her stones to the valley. The unusual verb for “pour” is the same one used at the end of verse 4 and is surely meant to pick up the image of water pouring down a slope.

8. ostriches. This is what the Hebrew term used here generally means, though some scholars think it may indicate a kind of screech owl.

9. it has come as far as Judah, / has reached My people’s gate. Micah uses the Prophetic past in his verbs—that is, events predicted are represented as though they had already been accomplished, perhaps just now (hence the present perfect in this translation). Reaching the gate is a clear indication of an invading army coming up to the walls of the city.

10. Tell it not in Gath. This line is an obvious citation of David’s lament over the deaths of Saul and Jonathan (2 Samuel 1:20).

surely do not weep. In keeping with the preceding verset, this would mean: don’t show your grief outwardly lest your enemies see it.

In Beth-Leaphrah / wallow in the dust. The Hebrew puns on the name of the place and ʿafar, “dust.”

11. He shall take his station from you. The “he” is the invader, but the wording of the Hebrew is obscure.

13. Lachish. Lachish was a major fortified Judahite town, destined to be destroyed by Sennacharib in 701 B.C.E. That conquest is celebrated in a famous Assyrian bas-relief. The inhabitants of Lachish are enjoined to harness their chariots in order to flee the town.

for in you are found the trespasses of Israel. The nature of these trespasses is not spelled out. Some interpreters have surmised that these would be linked to Lachish’s confidence in its own military strength, but that is not clear.

14. parting gifts. The use of the Hebrew shiluḥim is probably ironic. Ordinarily, it means “betrothal gifts,” but the verbal stem suggests “sending away,” and here that would be into exile.

Achziv’s houses betray. The Hebrew puns on “Achziv” and ʾakhzav, “betrayal,” a word used especially for wadis that flow with water during the winter rains and then “betray” by turning dry in the summer.

15. the glory of Israel. This phrase modifies Adullam, a town linked with Lachish and evidently thought of, because of its military strength, as redounding to the national glory.

16. over your pampered children. A more literal rendering would be “the children of your pleasures.”