The Lord spoke his word to Micah, who was from Moresheth, when Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah. This is the vision that Micah saw about Samaria and Jerusalem.
The Lord inflicted the king with a skin disease that lasted until the day the king died. So the king lived in a separate house. The king’s son Jotham was in charge of the palace and governed the country.
Ahaz was 20 years old when he began to rule. He ruled for 26 years in Jerusalem. He didn’t do what the Lord considered right, as his ancestor David had done.
When Ahaz, son of Jotham and grandson of Uzziah, was king of Judah, Aram’s King Rezin and Israel’s King Pekah, son of Remaliah, went to Jerusalem to attack it, but they couldn’t defeat it.
“Micah from Moresheth prophesied at the time of Judah’s King Hezekiah and said to all the people of Judah, ‘This is what the Lord of Armies says: Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a pile of rubble, and the temple mountain will become a worship site covered with trees.’
The Lord spoke his word to Hosea, son of Beeri, when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah and when Jeroboam, son of Joash, was king of Israel.
“Israel, you act like a prostitute. Don’t let Judah become guilty too. Don’t go to Gilgal. Don’t go to Beth Aven. Don’t take the oath, ‘As the Lord lives. …’
The people of Israel have built palaces, and they have forgotten their maker. The people of Judah have built many fortified cities. I will send a fire on their cities and burn down their palaces.”
These are the words of Amos, one of the sheep farmers from Tekoa. He saw ⌞a vision⌟ about Israel during the reigns of Judah’s King Uzziah and Israel’s King Jeroboam, son of Joash. This happened two years before the earthquake.
How horrible it will be for those who are at ease in Zion, for those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria, and for the heads of the leading nations, to whom the nation of Israel comes.