Text -- Micah 7:3-20 (NET)

7:3 They are determined to be experts at doing evil; government officials and judges take bribes, prominent men make demands, and they all do what is necessary to satisfy them. 7:4 The best of them is like a thorn; the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes. The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen– your appointed time of punishment– is on the way, and then you will experience confusion. 7:5 Do not rely on a friend; do not trust a companion! Don’t even share secrets with the one who lies in your arms! 7:6 For a son thinks his father is a fool, a daughter challenges her mother, and a daughter-in-law her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are his own servants. 7:7 But I will keep watching for the Lord; I will wait for the God who delivers me. My God will hear my lament.

Jerusalem Will Be Vindicated

7:8 My enemies, do not gloat over me! Though I have fallen, I will get up. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. 7:9 I must endure the Lord’s anger, for I have sinned against him. But then he will defend my cause, and accomplish justice on my behalf. He will lead me out into the light; I will experience firsthand his deliverance. 7:10 When my enemies see this, they will be covered with shame. They say to me, “Where is the Lord your God?” I will gloat over them. Then they will be trampled down like mud in the streets. 7:11 It will be a day for rebuilding your walls; in that day your boundary will be extended.

A Closing Prayer

7:12 In that day people will come to you from Assyria as far as Egypt, from Egypt as far as the Euphrates River, from the seacoasts and the mountains. 7:13 The earth will become desolate because of what its inhabitants have done. 7:14 Shepherd your people with your shepherd’s rod, the flock that belongs to you, the one that lives alone in a thicket, in the midst of a pastureland. Allow them to graze in Bashan and Gilead, as they did in the old days. 7:15 “As in the days when you departed from the land of Egypt, I will show you miraculous deeds.” 7:16 Nations will see this and be disappointed by all their strength, they will put their hands over their mouths, and act as if they were deaf. deaf. 7:17 They will lick the dust like a snake, like serpents crawling on the ground. They will come trembling from their strongholds to the Lord our God; they will be terrified of you. 7:18 There is no other God like you! You forgive sin and pardon the rebellion of those who remain among your people. You do not remain angry forever, but delight in showing loyal love. 7:19 You will once again have mercy on us; you will conquer our evil deeds; you will hurl our sins into the depths of the sea. 7:20 You will be loyal to Jacob and extend your loyal love to Abraham, which you promised on oath to our ancestors in ancient times.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Mic 7:3

¹ tn Heb “upon evil [are their] hands to do [it] well.”

² tn Heb “the official asks – and the judge – for a bribe.”

³ tn More literally, “the great one announces what his appetite desires and they weave it together.” Apparently this means that subordinates plot and maneuver to make sure the prominent man’s desires materialize.

NET Notes: Mic 7:4

¹ tn Heb “[the] godly from a row of thorn bushes.” The preposition מִן (min) is comparative and the comparative element (perhaps “sharper” is the idea) is omitted. See BDB 582 s.v. 6 and GKC 431 §133.e.

² tn Heb “the day of your watchmen, your appointed [time], is coming.” The present translation takes “watchmen” to refer to actual sentries. However, the “watchmen” could refer figuratively to the prophets who had warned Judah of approaching judgment. In this case one could translate, “The day your prophets warned about – your appointed time of punishment – is on the way.”

³ tn Heb “and now will be their confusion.”

NET Notes: Mic 7:5

¹ tn Heb “from the one who lies in your arms, guard the doors of your mouth.”

NET Notes: Mic 7:6

¹ tn Heb “rises up against.”

² tn Heb “the enemies of a man are the men of his house.”

NET Notes: Mic 7:7

¹ tn Heb “me.” In the interest of clarity the nature of the prophet’s cry has been specified as “my lament” in the translation.

NET Notes: Mic 7:8

¹ tn The singular form is understood as collective.

² tn Or “rejoice” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NCV “don’t laugh at me.”

³ sn Darkness represents judgment; light (also in v. 9) symbolizes deliverance. The Lord is the source of the latter.

NET Notes: Mic 7:9

¹ tn Heb “lift, bear.”

² tn Heb “until.”

³ tn Or “plead my case” (NASB and NIV both similar); NRSV “until he takes my side.”

⁴ tn Heb “see.”

⁵ tn Or “justice, vindication.”

NET Notes: Mic 7:10

¹ tn Heb “who say.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

² tn Heb “My eyes will look on them.”

³ tn Heb “a trampled-down place.”

NET Notes: Mic 7:11

¹ sn Personified Jerusalem declares her confidence in vv. 8-10; in this verse she is assured that she will indeed be vindicated.

NET Notes: Mic 7:12

¹ tn Heb “they.” The referent has been specified as “people,” referring either to the nations (coming to God with their tribute) or to the exiles of Israel (returning to the Lord).

² tn The masculine pronominal suffix suggests the Lord is addressed. Some emend to a feminine form and take Jerusalem as the addressee.

³ tc The MT reads וְעָרֵי (vÿ’arey, “and the cities [of Egypt]”), but the parallel line indicates this is a corruption of וְעַד (vÿ’ad, “even to”).

⁴ tn Heb “the River,” referring to the Euphrates River. This has been specified in the translation for clarity (so also NASB, NIV).

⁵ tn Heb “and sea from sea.” Many prefer to emend this to מִיָּם עַד יָם (miyyam ’ad yam, “from sea to sea”).

⁶ tn Heb “and mountain of the mountain.” Many prefer to emend this to וּמֵהַר עַד הַר (umehar ’ad har, “and mountain to mountain”).

NET Notes: Mic 7:13

¹ tn Or “will be ruined.”

² tn Heb “on account of its inhabitants, because of the fruit of their deeds.”

NET Notes: Mic 7:14

¹ tn Or “with your scepter” (the Hebrew term can mean either “rod” or “scepter”).

² tn Heb “the flock of your inheritance.”

³ tn Or “in the midst of Carmel.” The Hebrew term translated “pastureland” may be a place name.

sn The point seems to be that Israel is in a vulnerable position, like sheep in a thicket populated by predators, while rich pastureland (their homeland and God’s blessings) is in view.

⁴ sn The regions of Bashan and Gilead, located in Transjordan, were noted for their rich grazing lands.

⁵ tn Heb “as in the days of antiquity.”

NET Notes: Mic 7:15

¹ tn Heb “him.” This probably refers to Israel in a collective sense. Because the switch from direct address to the third person is awkward, some prefer to emend the suffix to a second person form. In any case, it is necessary to employ a second person pronoun in the translation to maintain the connection for the English reader.

² sn I will show you miraculous deeds. In this verse the Lord responds to the petition of v. 14 with a brief promise of deliverance.

NET Notes: Mic 7:16

¹ tn Or “be ashamed of.”

² tn Heb “and their ears will be deaf.” Apparently this means the opposing nations will be left dumbfounded by the Lord’s power. Their inability to respond will make them appear to be deaf mutes.

NET Notes: Mic 7:17

¹ tn Heb “like crawling things on the ground.” The parallelism suggests snakes are in view.

² tn Thetranslationassumesthatthe phrase אֶל־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ (’el-yÿhvah ’elohenu, “to the Lord our God”) goes with what precedes. Another option is to take the phrase with the following verb, in which case one could translate, “to the Lord our God they will turn in dread.”

³ tn Heb “they will be in dread and afraid.”

⁴ tn The Lord is addressed directly using the second person.

NET Notes: Mic 7:18

¹ tn Heb “Who is a God like you?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one!”

² tn Heb “one who.” The prayer moves from direct address (second person) in v. 18a to a descriptive (third person) style in vv. 18b-19a and then back to direct address (second person) in vv. 19b-20. Due to considerations of English style and the unfamiliarity of the modern reader with alternation of persons in Hebrew poetry, the entire section has been rendered as direct address (second person) in the translation.

³ tn Heb “pass over.”

⁴ tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”

⁵ tn Heb “he does not keep hold of his anger forever.”

NET Notes: Mic 7:19

¹ tn The verb יָשׁוּב (yashuv, “he will return”) is here used adverbially in relation to the following verb, indicating that the Lord will again show mercy.

² tn Some prefer to read יִכְבֹּס (yikhbos, “he will cleanse”; see HALOT 459 s.v. כבס pi). If the MT is taken as it stands, sin is personified as an enemy that the Lord subdues.

³ tn Heb “their sins,” but the final mem (ם) may be enclitic rather than a pronominal suffix. In this case the suffix from the preceding line (“our”) may be understood as doing double duty.

⁴ sn In this metaphor the Lord disposes of Israel’s sins by throwing them into the waters of the sea (here symbolic of chaos).

NET Notes: Mic 7:20

¹ tn More literally, “You will extend loyalty to Jacob, and loyal love to Abraham.

² tn Heb “our fathers.” The Hebrew term refers here to more distant ancestors, not immediate parents.

³ tn Heb “which you swore [or, “pledged”] to our fathers from days of old.”