Discovery BoxMicah 2:1-2
Context2:1 Those who devise sinful plans are as good as dead, 1
those who dream about doing evil as they lie in bed. 2
As soon as morning dawns they carry out their plans, 3
because they have the power to do so.
2:2 They confiscate the fields they desire,
and seize the houses they want. 4
They defraud people of their homes, 5
and deprive people of the land they have inherited. 6
Micah 2:8-10
Context2:8 but you rise up as an enemy against my people. 7
You steal a robe from a friend, 8
from those who pass by peacefully as if returning from a war. 9
2:9 You wrongly evict widows 10 among my people from their cherished homes.
You defraud their children 11 of their prized inheritance. 12
2:10 But you are the ones who will be forced to leave! 13
For this land is not secure! 14
Sin will thoroughly destroy it! 15
[2:1] 1 tn Heb “Woe to those who plan sin.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe”; “ah”) was a cry used in mourning the dead.
[2:1] 2 tn Heb “those who do evil upon their beds.”
[2:1] 3 tn Heb “at the light of morning they do it.”
[2:2] 4 tn Heb “they desire fields and rob [them], and houses and take [them] away.”
[2:2] 5 tn Heb “and they oppress a man and his home.”
[2:2] 6 tn Heb “and a man and his inheritance.” The verb עָשַׁק (’ashaq, “to oppress”; “to wrong”) does double duty in the parallel structure and is understood by ellipsis in the second line.
[2:8] 7 tc Heb “Recently my people rise up as an enemy.” The MT is problematic in light of v. 9, where “my people” are the object of oppression, not the perpetrators of it. The form וְאֶתְמוּל (vÿ’etmul, “and recently”) is probably the product of fusion and subsequent suppression of an (ע) ayin. The translation assumes an emendation to וְאַתֶּם עַל (vÿ’attem ’al, “and you against [my people]”). The second person plural pronoun fits well with the second plural verb forms of vv. 8b-10. If this emendation is accepted, then יְקוֹמֵם (yÿqomem, the imperfect of קוּם [qum]) should be emended to קָמִים (qamim; a participle from the same root).
[2:8] 8 tc Heb “From the front of a garment glory [or perhaps, “a robe”] you strip off,” but this makes little if any sense. The term מִמּוּל (mimmul, “from the front of”) is probably the product of dittography (note the preceding word, which ends in [ם] mem) and subsequent suppression of ע (ayin). The translation assumes an emendation to מֵעַל (me’al, “from upon”). The translation also assumes an emendation of שַׂלְמָה אֶדֶר (salmah ’eder, “a garment, glory [or robe]”) to שֹׁלְמִים אֲדֶרֶת (sholÿmim ’aderet, “[from] a friend the robe [you strip off]”). The MT’s אֶדֶר (’eder) is the result of misdivision (the article has erroneously been attached to the preceding word) and haplography (of the final tav, which also begins the following word).
[2:8] 9 tc The passive participle שׁוּבֵי (shuvey) is unattested elsewhere and should be emended to a participle שָׁבִים (shavim).
[2:9] 10 tn Heb “women.” This may be a synecdoche of the whole (women) for the part (widows).
[2:9] 11 tn Heb “her little children” or “her infants”; ASV, NRSV “young children.”
[2:9] 12 tn Heb “from their children you take my glory forever.” The yod (י) ending on הֲדָרִי (hadariy) is usually taken as a first person common singular suffix (“my glory”). But it may be the archaic genitive ending (“glory of”) in the construct expression “glory of perpetuity,” that is, “perpetual glory.” In either case, this probably refers to the dignity or honor the
[2:10] 13 tn Heb “Arise and go!” These imperatives are rhetorical. Those who wrongly drove widows and orphans from their homes and land inheritances will themselves be driven out of the land (cf. Isa 5:8-17). This is an example of poetic justice.
[2:10] 14 tn Heb “for this is no resting place.” The
[2:10] 15 tn Heb “uncleanness will destroy, and destruction will be severe.”
