Text -- Micah 5:8-15 (NET)

5:8 Those survivors from Jacob will live among the nations, in the midst of many peoples. They will be like a lion among the animals of the forest, like a young lion among the flocks of sheep, which attacks when it passes through; it rips its prey and there is no one to stop it. 5:9 Lift your hand triumphantly against your adversaries; may all your enemies be destroyed!

The Lord Will Purify His People

5:10 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will destroy your horses from your midst, and smash your chariots. 5:11 I will destroy the cities of your land, and tear down all your fortresses. 5:12 I will remove the sorcery that you practice, and you will no longer have omen readers living among you. 5:13 I will remove your idols and sacred pillars from your midst; you will no longer worship what your own hands made. 5:14 I will uproot your images of Asherah from your midst, and destroy your idols. 5:15 I will angrily seek vengeance on the nations that do not obey me.”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Mic 5:8

¹ tn The words “its prey” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

² tn Heb “and there is no deliverer.”

NET Notes: Mic 5:9

¹ tn Heb “let your hand be lifted against your adversaries.”

² tn Heb “be cut off.”

NET Notes: Mic 5:10

¹ tn Heb “cut off” (also in the following verse).

NET Notes: Mic 5:12

¹ tn Heb “magic charms” (so NCV, TEV); NIV, NLT “witchcraft”; NAB “the means of divination.” The precise meaning of this Hebrew word is uncertain, but note its use in Isa 47:9, 12.

² tn Heb “from your hands.”

³ tn Heb “and you will not have omen-readers.”

NET Notes: Mic 5:14

¹ tn Or “Asherah poles.”

sn Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4). The Lord states that he will destroy these images, something the Israelites themselves should have done but failed to do.

² tn The MT reads “your cities,” but many emend the text to צִרֶיךָ (tsirekha, “your images”) or עֲצַבֶּיךָ (’atsbbekha, “your idols”).

NET Notes: Mic 5:15

¹ tn Heb “I will accomplish in anger and in rage, vengeance on the nations who do not listen.”