This haftarah opens describing the remnant of Jacob among the nations as both a source of blessing, like dew from God, and a source of judgment, like a lion among sheep, before Micah turns to a promise that God will eventually cut off the instruments of misplaced trust, horses, chariots, fortified cities, and sorcery, so that the people rely on God alone rather than on military or occult means of security.
The prophet then stages a courtroom scene in which God pleads a case directly against the people, calling the mountains and hills to witness, and reminding them what God actually did for them: bringing them up from Egypt, redeeming them from slavery, sending Moses, Aaron and Miriam ahead of them, and explicitly recalling what Balak, king of Moab, had counseled and how Balaam responded to him, a direct citation of a specific historical episode as evidence of God's past faithfulness.
The haftarah closes with its most celebrated verse, a question about what sacrifice could possibly satisfy God, thousands of rams or rivers of oil, answered instead with one of the most quoted single lines in the prophetic corpus: that God has already told humanity what is good, to do justice, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.