Hear, all ye people; hearken, O earth, and all that therein is: and let the Lord GOD be witness against you, the LORD from his holy temple.
Parallel translations
- WEB Hear, you peoples, all of you. Listen, O earth, and all that is therein: and let the Lord Yahweh be witness against you, the Lord from his holy temple.
- BSB Hear, O peoples, all of you; listen, O earth, and everyone in it! May the Lord GOD bear witness against you, the Lord from His holy temple.
- NKJV Hear, all you peoples! Listen, O earth, and all that is in it! Let the Lord God be a witness against you, The Lord from His holy temple.
- NASB Hear, you peoples, all of you; Listen carefully, earth and all it contains, And may the Lord God be a witness against you, The Lord from His holy temple.
- NLT Attention! Let all the people of the world listen! Let the earth and everything in it hear. The Sovereign Lord is making accusations against you; the Lord speaks from his holy Temple.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Micah summons all the peoples of the earth to hear God's case, with the Lord Himself bearing witness against them from His holy temple. It frames the book as a divine lawsuit.
Overview
The prophecy opens like a courtroom scene: the nations are called as a jury while Yahweh testifies against His people from His heavenly dwelling. This universal summons shows God as Judge of all the earth, not merely of Israel. It anticipates the final judgment, when every nation will give account before the holy God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 25
- Ps 11:4The LORD is in his holy temple, the LORD’s throne is in heaven: his eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.
- Isa 1:2Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
- Jonah 2:7When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.
- Jer 22:29O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the LORD.
- Mark 7:14–15And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:
- Mic 6:1–2Hear ye now what the LORD saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
- Rev 2:7He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
- Ps 50:7Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.
- Rev 3:22He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
- Hab 2:20But the LORD is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him.
- Mal 3:5And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
- Ps 49:1–2Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:
- Rev 3:13He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
- Mal 2:14Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
- Ps 50:1The mighty God, even the LORD, hath spoken, and called the earth from the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof.
- Ps 28:2Hear the voice of my supplications, when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle.
- Jer 6:19Hear, O earth: behold, I will bring evil upon this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to my law, but rejected it.
- Rev 3:6He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
- Rev 2:17He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.
- Ps 24:1The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
- Ps 50:12If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fulness thereof.
- Jer 29:23Because they have committed villany in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbours’ wives, and have spoken lying words in my name, which I have not commanded them; even I know, and am a witness, saith the LORD.
- Rev 2:11He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.
- Rev 2:29He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
- Deut 32:1Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak; and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Micah names the town — 'But you, Bethlehem... from you shall come forth one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origins are from of old' — the birthplace of the eternal King.
How Micah 1:2 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.