A Hebrew prophet of the last part of the eighth century BCE and name of the sixth book of the Twelve Minor Prophets. It has seven chapters. Micah came from Moresheth-Gath, near Lachish, within the territory of the tribe of Judah. He prophesied during the reigns of three kings: Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. Three other prophets, Amos, Hosea, and Isaiah, also prophesied during this period and there are some similarities in their prophecies.
Micah fought against social injustice and corruption, especially that of the nobility and of the leaders: "Listen, you rulers of Jacob, you chiefs of the House of Israel! For you ought to know what is right, but you hate good and love evil. You have devoured My people's flesh; you have flayed the skin off them, and their flesh off their bones. . . . And breaking their bones to bits. . ." (Mic. 3:1–3). Because of this oppression and corruption, Micah prophesied both the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel. He advocated a return to a life of pastoral purity, far from luxuries and the domination of one man by another, which are the inevitable causes of corruption. He had a universalist message and thought that new human relations would be built on the foundations of brotherhood and international peace as the Temple Mount and Jerusalem would serve as the spiritual center for all lands. In respect of this messianic "vision of the end of days," Micah's words are identical with the same vision more commonly attributed to his older contemporary, the prophet Isaiah (Mic. 4:1–3; Isa. 2:2–4).
Micah is also well known for his definition of the essence of religion: "He has told you, O man, what is good, And what the Lord requires of you: only to do justice and to love goodness, and to walk modestly humbly with your God" (Mic. 6:8).
