Micah 5:12

5:12 I will remove the sorcery ¹  that you practice, ² 

and you will no longer have omen readers living among you. ³ 

Micah 6:3

6:3 “My people, how have I wronged you? ⁴ 

How have I wearied you? Answer me!

Micah 1:15

1:15 Residents of Mareshah, ⁵  a conqueror will attack you, ⁶ 

the leaders of Israel shall flee to Adullam. ⁷ 

Micah 2:5

2:5 Therefore no one will assign you land in the Lord’s community. ⁸ 

Micah 2:11

2:11 If a lying windbag should come and say, ⁹ 

‘I’ll promise you blessings of wine and beer,’ ¹⁰ 

he would be just the right preacher for these people! ¹¹ 

Micah 6:8

6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good,

and what the Lord really wants from you: ¹² 

He wants you to ¹³  promote ¹⁴  justice, to be faithful, ¹⁵ 

and to live obediently before ¹⁶  your God.

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.”

⁴ tn Heb “My people, what have I done to you?”

⁷ sn The place name Mareshah sounds like the Hebrew word for “conqueror.”

⁸ tn Heb “Again a conqueror I will bring to you, residents of Mareshah.” The first person verb is problematic, for the Lord would have to be the subject (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). But the prophet appears to be delivering this lament and the Lord is referred to in the third person in v. 12. Consequently many emend the verb to a third person form (יָבוֹא, yavo’) and understand the “conqueror” as subject.

⁹ tn Heb “to Adullam the glory of Israel will go.” This probably means that the nation’s leadership will run for their lives and, like David of old, hide from their enemy in the caves of Adullam. Cf. NIV’s “He who is the glory of Israel will come to Adullam,” which sounds as if an individual is in view, and could be understood as a messianic reference.

¹⁰ tn Heb “therefore you will not have one who strings out a measuring line by lot in the assembly of the Lord.”

¹³ tn Heb “if a man, coming [as] wind and falsehood, should lie”; NASB “walking after wind and falsehood”; NIV “a liar and a deceiver.”

¹⁴ tn Heb “I will foam at the mouth concerning wine and beer.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “he would be the foamer at the mouth for this people.”

¹⁶ sn What the Lord really wants from you. Now the prophet switches roles and answers the hypothetical worshiper’s question. He makes it clear that the Lord desires proper attitudes more than ritual and sacrifice.

¹⁷ tn Heb “except.” This statement is actually linked with what precedes, “What does he want from you except….”

¹⁸ tn Heb “to do,” in the sense of “promote.”

¹⁹ tn Heb “to love faithfulness.”

²⁰ tn Heb “to walk humbly [or perhaps, “carefully”] with.”