Micah 3:11

3:11 Her ¹  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ² 

her priests proclaim rulings for profit,

and her prophets read omens for pay.

Yet they claim to trust ³  the Lord and say,

“The Lord is among us. ⁴ 

Disaster will not overtake ⁵  us!”

Micah 7:19

7:19 You will once again ⁶  have mercy on us;

you will conquer ⁷  our evil deeds;

you will hurl our ⁸  sins into the depths of the sea. ⁹ 

Micah 4:2

4:2 Many nations will come, saying,

“Come on! Let’s go up to the Lord’s mountain,

to the temple ¹⁰  of Jacob’s God,

so he can teach us his commands ¹¹ 

and we can live by his laws.” ¹² 

For Zion will be the source of instruction;

the Lord’s teachings will proceed from Jerusalem. ¹³ 

Micah 5:1

5:1 (4:14) ¹⁴  But now slash yourself, ¹⁵  daughter surrounded by soldiers! ¹⁶ 

We are besieged!

With a scepter ¹⁷  they strike Israel’s ruler ¹⁸ 

on the side of his face.

Micah 5:6

5:6 They will rule ¹⁹  the land of Assyria with the sword,

the land of Nimrod ²⁰  with a drawn sword. ²¹ 

Our king ²²  will rescue us from the Assyrians

should they attempt to invade our land

and try to set foot in our territory.

Micah 2:6

2:6 ‘Don’t preach with such impassioned rhetoric,’ they say excitedly. ²³ 

‘These prophets should not preach of such things;

we will not be overtaken by humiliation.’ ²⁴ 

Micah 7:15

7:15 “As in the days when you departed from the land of Egypt,

I will show you ²⁵  miraculous deeds.” ²⁶ 

Micah 2:4

2:4 In that day people will sing this taunt song to you –

they will mock you with this lament: ²⁷ 

‘We are completely destroyed;

they sell off ²⁸  the property of my people.

How they remove it from me! ²⁹ 

They assign our fields to the conqueror.’ ³⁰ 

Micah 5:5

5:5 He will give us peace. ³¹ 

Should the Assyrians try to invade our land

and attempt to set foot in our fortresses, ³² 

we will send ³³  against them seven ³⁴  shepherd-rulers, ³⁵ 

make that eight commanders. ³⁶ 

Micah 4:5

4:5 Though all the nations follow their respective gods, ³⁷ 

we will follow ³⁸  the Lord our God forever.

Micah 7:20

7:20 You will be loyal to Jacob

and extend your loyal love to Abraham, ³⁹ 

which you promised on oath to our ancestors ⁴⁰ 

in ancient times. ⁴¹ 

¹ sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).

² tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”

³ tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”

⁴ tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”

⁵ tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”

⁶ 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.

⁷ 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.

⁸ 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.

⁹ sn In this metaphor the Lord disposes of Israel’s sins by throwing them into the waters of the sea (here symbolic of chaos).

¹¹ tn Heb “house.”

¹² tn Heb “ways.”

¹³ tn Heb “and we can walk in his paths.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “instruction [or, “law”] will go out from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

¹⁶ sn Beginning with 5:1, the verse numbers through 5:15 in the English Bible differ by one from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 5:1 ET = 4:14 HT, 5:2 ET = 5:1 HT, 5:3 ET = 5:2 HT, etc., through 5:15 ET = 5:14 HT. From 6:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.

¹⁷ tn The Hebrew verb גָדַד (gadad) can be translated “slash yourself” or “gather in troops.” A number of English translations are based on the latter meaning (e.g., NASB, NIV, NLT).

¹⁸ tn Heb “daughter of a troop of warriors.”

¹⁹ tn Or “staff”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “rod”; CEV “stick”; NCV “club.”

²⁰ tn Traditionally, “the judge of Israel” (so KJV, NASB).

²¹ tn Or perhaps “break”; or “defeat.”

²² sn According to Gen 10:8-12, Nimrod, who was famous as a warrior and hunter, founded Assyria.

²³ tc The MT reads “in her gates,” but the text should be emended to בַּפְּתִיחָה (baptikhah, “with a drawn sword”).

²⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the coming king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

²⁶ tn Heb “‘Do not foam at the mouth,’ they foam at the mouth.” The verb נָטַף (nataf) means “to drip.” When used of speech it probably has the nuance “to drivel, to foam at the mouth” (HALOT 694 s.v. נטף). The sinful people tell the Lord’s prophets not to “foam at the mouth,” which probably refers in a derogatory way to their impassioned style of delivery. But the Lord (who is probably still speaking here, see v. 3) sarcastically refers to their impassioned exhortation as “foaming at the mouth.”

²⁷ tc If one follows the MT as it stands, it would appear that the Lord here condemns the people for their “foaming at the mouth” and then announces that judgment is inevitable. The present translation assumes that this is a continuation of the quotation of what the people say. In this case the subject of “foam at the mouth” is the Lord’s prophets. In the second line יִסַּג (yissag, a Niphal imperfect from סוּג, sug, “to remove”) is emended to יַסִּגֵנוּ (yassigenu; a Hiphil imperfect from נָסַג/נָשַׂג, nasag/nasag, “to reach; to overtake”).

³¹ 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.

³² 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.

³⁶ tc The form נִהְיָה (nihyah) should be omitted as dittographic (note the preceding וְנָהָה נְהִי vÿnahah nÿhiy).

³⁷ tn Or “exchange.” The LXX suggests a reading יִמַּד (yimmad) from מָדַד (madad, “to measure”). In this case one could translate, “the property of my people is measured out [i.e., for resale].”

³⁸ tn Heb “how one removes for me.” Apparently the preposition has the nuance “from” here (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

³⁹ tc The Hebrew term שׁוֹבֵב (shovev, “the one turning back”) elsewhere has the nuance “apostate” (cf. NASB) or “traitor” (cf. NIV). The translation assumes an emendation to שָׁבָה (shavah, “captor”).

⁴¹ tn Heb “and this one will be peace”; ASV “and this man shall be our peace” (cf. Eph 2:14).

⁴² tc Some prefer to read “in our land,” emending the text to בְּאַדְמָתֵנוּ (bÿ’admatenu).

⁴³ tn Heb “raise up.”

⁴⁴ sn The numbers seven and eight here symbolize completeness and emphasize that Israel will have more than enough military leadership and strength to withstand the Assyrian advance.

⁴⁵ tn Heb “shepherds.”

⁴⁶ tn Heb “and eight leaders of men.”

⁴⁶ tn Heb “walk each in the name of his god.” The term “name” here has the idea of “authority.” To “walk in the name” of a god is to recognize the god’s authority as binding over one’s life.

⁴⁷ tn Heb “walk in the name of.”

⁵¹ tn More literally, “You will extend loyalty to Jacob, and loyal love to Abraham.

⁵² tn Heb “our fathers.” The Hebrew term refers here to more distant ancestors, not immediate parents.

⁵³ tn Heb “which you swore [or, “pledged”] to our fathers from days of old.”