Bible Locations

Maroth appears in Micah 1:12, in the prophet's lament over the towns of Judah before the Assyrian invasion of 701 BC: "Those who live in Maroth writhe in pain, waiting for relief, because disaster has come from the Lord, even to the gate of Jerusalem." Micah used wordplays on the names of towns, and Maroth sounds like the Hebrew word for "bitterness." So the town of "bitterness" waits for good but receives bitter disaster. The towns in Micah's lament were mostly in the Shephelah, the low hills southwest of Jerusalem, near Micah's hometown of Moresheth and near Lachish, which Sennacherib captured. Maroth's exact location is unknown. Some scholars think it may be the same as Maarath, in the hill country of Judah (Joshua 15:59). Sennacherib's own records claim he captured forty-six fortified towns in Judah during that campaign.