Micah 1:2 - Exposition

Hear, all ye people; rather, all ye peoples; Septuagint, λαοί . All nations are summoned to come and witness the judgment, and to profit by the warning. So Micaiah, son of Imlah, the bold denouncer of false prophets in the age of Ahah, had cried, "Hear, ye peoples, all of you" ( 1 Kings 22:28 ). So Moses, in his song ( Deuteronomy 32:1 ), calls on heaven and earth to listen to his words (comp. Isaiah 1:2 ). These expressions are not mere rhetorical figures; they have a special application. Whatever happens to Israel has a bearing on the development of the kingdom of God; the judgments on the chosen people are not only a warning to the heathen, but bring on the great consummation. All that therein is; literally, the fulness thereof; Vulgate, plentitudo ejus; Septuagint, πάντες οἱ ἐν αὐτῇ , "all ye that are therein" ( Psalms 24:1 ). Let the Lord God ( the Lord Jehovah ) be witness against you . Let God by his judgments against you, viz. Israel and Judah, confirm my denunciation (comp. Deuteronomy 29:24 ). From his holy temple; i.e. from heaven, as Micah 1:3 shows ( 1 Kings 8:30 ; Psalms 11:4 ; Habakkuk 2:20 ).