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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.
Micah 1:2 · New Living Translation
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.
  • KJV 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.
  • 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.

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 11:4Yahweh is in his holy temple. Yahweh is on his throne in heaven. His eyes observe. His eyes examine the children of men.
  • Isa 1:2Hear, heavens, and listen, earth; for Yahweh has spoken: “I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.
  • Jonah 2:7“When my soul fainted within me, I remembered Yahweh. My prayer came in to you, into your holy temple.
  • Jer 22:29O earth, earth, earth, hear Yahweh’s word!
  • Mark 7:14–15He called all the multitude to himself, and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand.
  • Mic 6:1–2Listen now to what Yahweh says: “Arise, plead your case before the mountains, and let the hills hear what you have to say.
  • Rev 2:7He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of my God.
  • Ps 50:7“Hear, my people, and I will speak; Israel, and I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
  • Rev 3:22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.”
  • Hab 2:20But Yahweh is in his holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before him!”
  • Mal 3:5I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against the perjurers, and against those who oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and who deprive the foreigner of justice, and don’t fear me,” says Yahweh of Armies.
  • Ps 49:1–2For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. Hear this, all you peoples. Listen, all you inhabitants of the world,
  • Rev 3:13He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.
  • Mal 2:14Yet you say, ‘Why?’ Because Yahweh has been witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion, and the wife of your covenant.
  • Ps 50:1A Psalm by Asaph. The Mighty One, God, Yahweh, speaks, and calls the earth from sunrise to sunset.
  • Ps 28:2Hear the voice of my petitions, when I cry to you, when I lift up my hands toward your Most Holy Place.
  • Jer 6:19Hear, earth! Behold, I will bring evil on this people, even the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not listened to my words; and as for my law, they have rejected it.
  • Rev 3:6He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.
  • Rev 2:17He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows but he who receives it.
  • Ps 24:1A Psalm by David. The earth is Yahweh’s, with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell therein.
  • Ps 50:12If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.
  • Jer 29:23because they have done foolish things in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and have spoken words in my name falsely, which I didn’t command them. I am he who knows, and am witness,” says Yahweh.
  • Rev 2:11He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. He who overcomes won’t be harmed by the second death.
  • Rev 2:29He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies.
  • Deut 32:1Give ear, you heavens, and I will speak. Let the earth hear the words of my mouth.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Micah videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Micah 1:2YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on MicahMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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.