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Micah 1:1, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Micah 1:1
The Word Comes to Micah of Moresheth
A word located in Judah's Shephelah, not in a secret calendar
The book opens by naming the word of the LORD that came to Micah the Morasthite. He is identified by Moresheth, a country place later echoed in the Shephelah dirge, not by ancestry, office, or a call vision. The word is 'seen' in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and it concerns Samaria and Jerusalem.
Those three reigns stretch across decades of Assyrian pressure, Samaria's fall, and Judah's crisis. The heading does not date every later poem, prove one sitting of composition, or tell Micah's occupation. It places the collection in real Israelite and Judahite history before any later use of the book.
Two capitals, one named horizon
Samaria and Jerusalem are not code for modern nations, churches, or parties. They are the northern and southern urban centers whose public life the following oracles will examine. Jeremiah later remembers Micah of Moresheth in Hezekiah's days; that memory confirms the prophet's Judahite setting rather than turning the superscription into a biography.
How this should shape us
Begin with the people, places, and kings the heading actually names. Mark reconstructions of Micah's class or office as inference, and refuse to treat Samaria or Jerusalem as stand-ins for a present enemy.
Teach it back
Explain Micah 1:1 in your own words. Include its place in Micah's judgment-restoration movement, one material uncertainty, and one use the context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Interpreters differ over the historical value of the heading, Micah's social location, the duration of his ministry, and the extent of later editing. The named prophet, place, kings, and cities are explicit; more detailed biography is uncertain.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Micah 1:1, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, wordplays, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Mic.xml, 1:1
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
NET Bible Micah PDF, printed pp. 1740, translation and notes on 1:1
Supports: Whole-book movement, eighth-century and later horizons, literary boundaries, composition, and verse-level alternatives.
Williamson, 'Micah,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 595-596, discussion of 1:1
Supports: Assyrian-period disruption, Moresheth and the Shephelah, land tenure, household fields, elite accumulation, dispossession, and contextual limits.
Jeje, The Book of Micah and the Land Question in Zimbabwe, pp. 34-73 for history and archaeology and pp. 203-215 for Micah's land texts; applied to 1:1
Supports: The Neo-Assyrian king's own imperial account of fortified Judahite cities, deportation, Hezekiah's confinement in Jerusalem, reduced territory, and tribute.
RINAP 3/1, Sennacherib 022 (Q003496), column iii lines 18-35
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.
Exact location: Micah 1:1, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Micah
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, wordplays, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Mic.xml, 1:1
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Micah with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
Biblical Studies Press, 2006
Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.
Exact location: NET Bible Micah PDF, printed pp. 1740, translation and notes on 1:1
Open source ↗modern critical commentary
Micah
H. G. M. Williamson
Oxford University Press, in The Oxford Bible Commentary, 2001
Supports: Whole-book movement, eighth-century and later horizons, literary boundaries, composition, and verse-level alternatives.
Exact location: Williamson, 'Micah,' Oxford Bible Commentary, printed pp. 595-596, discussion of 1:1
Open source ↗doctoral thesis
The Book of Micah and the Land Question in Zimbabwe: A Contextual Biblical Interpretation
S. Jeje
University of South Africa, 2026
Supports: Assyrian-period disruption, Moresheth and the Shephelah, land tenure, household fields, elite accumulation, dispossession, and contextual limits.
Exact location: Jeje, The Book of Micah and the Land Question in Zimbabwe, pp. 34-73 for history and archaeology and pp. 203-215 for Micah's land texts; applied to 1:1
Open source ↗ancient near eastern primary source edition
Sennacherib 022 (Q003496)
A. Kirk Grayson, Jamie Novotny, and the Royal Inscriptions of the Neo-Assyrian Period project
RINAP 3/1 via the Open Richly Annotated Cuneiform Corpus, 2012
Supports: The Neo-Assyrian king's own imperial account of fortified Judahite cities, deportation, Hezekiah's confinement in Jerusalem, reduced territory, and tribute.
Exact location: RINAP 3/1, Sennacherib 022 (Q003496), column iii lines 18-35
Open source ↗