The Meaning of Micah 1:12 Explained

Micah 1:12

KJV: For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem.

YLT: For stayed for good hath the inhabitant of Maroth, For evil hath come down from Jehovah to the gate of Jerusalem.

Darby: For the inhabitress of Maroth waited anxiously for good; but evil hath come down from Jehovah unto the gate of Jerusalem.

ASV: For the inhabitant of Maroth waiteth anxiously for good, because evil is come down from Jehovah unto the gate of Jerusalem.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

For the inhabitant  of Maroth  waited carefully  for good:  but evil  came down  from the LORD  unto the gate  of Jerusalem. 

What does Micah 1:12 Mean?

Verse Meaning

Residents of Maroth, which sounds like the Hebrew word translated "bitterness," would become weak as they waited for help that would not come. Their expectation would become bitter because God would send calamity to the gates of Jerusalem. Before Sennacherib besieged Jerusalem in701 B.C, he defeated46 other towns in Judah ( 2 Kings 18-19). [1]

Context Summary

Micah 1:1-16 - God's Witness Against His Chosen
Micah was contemporary with Isaiah and Hosea. Jeremiah quotes from him. Compare Micah 3:12 and Jeremiah 26:18.
In Micah 1:1-4 the prophet summons the nations to behold the just punishment which Jehovah would mete out to His faithless people. Micah 1:5-6 portray the desolation of Samaria. Destruction would settle on the homes and fields of men, and the prospect of this so affected the prophet that he divested himself of outer garment and sandals, that his disheveled condition might depict the calamities that he announced. Micah 1:10-16 make clear that Judah also would suffer similar chastisements. Aphrah and Shaphir would be hurried into captivity. So universal would be the calamity that Zaanan would not come to bewail with the neighboring city of Bethezel.
The prophets were true patriots and they felt that all good citizens should lament with them, Micah 1:16, in the hope of averting impending judgments. Are we feeling the sins and sorrows of our time, as Jesus felt those of Jerusalem, when He wept over the city? [source]

Chapter Summary: Micah 1

1  The time when Micah prophesied
2  He shows the wrath of God against Jacob for idolatry
10  He exhorts to mourning

What do the individual words in Micah 1:12 mean?

For pined for good the inhabitant of Maroth but came down disaster from Yahweh to the gate of Jerusalem
כִּֽי־ חָ֥לָֽה לְט֖וֹב יוֹשֶׁ֣בֶת מָר֑וֹת כִּֽי־ יָ֤רַד רָע֙ מֵאֵ֣ת יְהוָ֔ה לְשַׁ֖עַר יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם

חָ֥לָֽה  pined 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person feminine singular
Root: חָלָה 
Sense: to be or become weak, be or become sick, be or become diseased, be or become grieved, be or become sorry.
לְט֖וֹב  for  good 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine singular
Root: טָבַב 
Sense: good, pleasant, agreeable.
יוֹשֶׁ֣בֶת  the  inhabitant 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Participle, feminine singular construct
Root: יָשַׁב 
Sense: to dwell, remain, sit, abide.
מָר֑וֹת  of  Maroth 
Parse: Proper Noun, feminine singular
Root: מָרֹות  
Sense: one of the towns in the lowland of Judah.
יָ֤רַד  came  down 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: יָרַד  
Sense: to go down, descend, decline, march down, sink down.
רָע֙  disaster 
Parse: Adjective, masculine singular
Root: רַע 
Sense: bad, evil.
יְהוָ֔ה  Yahweh 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יהוה 
Sense: Jehovah—used primarily in the combination ‘Lord Jehovah’.
לְשַׁ֖עַר  to  the  gate 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: שַׁעַר  
Sense: gate.
יְרוּשָׁלִָֽם  of  Jerusalem 
Parse: Proper Noun, feminine singular
Root: יְרוּשָׁלַםִ  
Sense: the chief city of Palestine and capital of the united kingdom and the nation of Judah after the split.