1 Samuel 2:7

2:7 The Lord impoverishes and makes wealthy;

he humbles and he exalts.

Nehemiah 9:8

9:8 When you perceived that his heart was faithful toward you, you established a ¹  covenant with him to give his descendants ²  the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, and the Girgashites. You have fulfilled your promise, ³  for you are righteous.

Psalms 31:1

Psalm 31 ⁴ 

For the music director; a psalm of David.

31:1 In you, O Lord, I have taken shelter!

Never let me be humiliated!

Vindicate me by rescuing me! ⁵ 

Psalms 71:2

71:2 Vindicate me by rescuing me! ⁶ 

Listen to me! ⁷  Deliver me! ⁸ 

Psalms 143:1

Psalm 143 ⁹ 

A psalm of David.

143:1 O Lord, hear my prayer!

Pay attention to my plea for help!

Because of your faithfulness and justice, answer me!

Micah 6:4-5

6:4 In fact, I brought you up from the land of Egypt,

I delivered you from that place of slavery.

I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead you. ¹⁰ 

6:5 My people, recall how King Balak of Moab planned to harm you, ¹¹ 

how Balaam son of Beor responded to him.

Recall how you journeyed from Shittim to Gilgal,

so you might acknowledge that the Lord has treated you fairly.” ¹² 

Micah 6:2

6:2 Hear the Lord’s accusation, you mountains,

you enduring foundations of the earth!

For the Lord has a case against his people;

he has a dispute with Israel! ¹³ 

Micah 1:6

1:6 “I will turn Samaria ¹⁴  into a heap of ruins in an open field –

vineyards will be planted there! ¹⁵ 

I will tumble ¹⁶  the rubble of her stone walls ¹⁷  down into the valley,

and tear down her fortifications to their foundations. ¹⁸ 

Micah 1:1

Introduction

1:1 This is the prophetic message that the Lord gave to ¹⁹  Micah of Moresheth. He delivered this message ²⁰  during the reigns of ²¹  Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. The prophecies pertain to ²²  Samaria ²³  and Jerusalem. ²⁴ 

Micah 1:9

1:9 For Samaria’s ²⁵  disease ²⁶  is incurable.

It has infected ²⁷  Judah;

it has spread to ²⁸  the leadership ²⁹  of my people

and has even contaminated Jerusalem! ³⁰ 

[9:8]  ¹ tn Heb “the” (so NAB).

[9:8]  ² tn Heb “seed.”

[9:8]  ³ tn Heb “your words.”

[31:1]  ⁴ sn Psalm 31. The psalmist confidently asks the Lord to protect him. Enemies threaten him and even his friends have abandoned him, but he looks to the Lord for vindication. In vv. 19-24, which were apparently written after the Lord answered the prayer of vv. 1-18, the psalmist thanks the Lord for delivering him.

[31:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “in your vindication rescue me.”

[71:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “in your vindication rescue me and deliver me.” Ps 31:1 omits “and deliver me.”

[71:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “turn toward me your ear.”

[71:2]  ⁸ tn Ps 31:2 adds “quickly” before “deliver.”

[143:1]  ⁹ sn Psalm 143. As in the previous psalm, the psalmist laments his persecuted state and asks the Lord to deliver him from his enemies.

[6:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “before you.”

[6:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “remember what Balak…planned.”

[6:5]  ¹² tn Heb “From Shittim to Gilgal, in order to know the just acts of the Lord.” Something appears to be missing at the beginning of the line. The present translation supplies the words, “Recall how you went.” This apparently refers to how Israel crossed the Jordan River (see Josh 3:1; 4:19-24).

[6:2]  ¹³ tn This verse briefly interrupts the Lord’s statement (see vv. 1, 3) as the prophet summons the mountains as witnesses. Because of this v. 2 has been placed in parentheses in the translation.

[1:6]  ¹⁴ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[1:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “into a planting place for vineyards.”

[1:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “pour” (so NASB, NIV); KJV, NRSV “pour down”; NAB “throw down”; NLT “roll.”

[1:6]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “her stones.” The term stones is a metonymy for the city walls whose foundations were constructed of stone masonry.

[1:6]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “I will uncover her foundations.” The term “foundations” refers to the lower courses of the stones of the city’s outer fortification walls.

[1:1]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “The word of the Lord which came to.”

[1:1]  ²⁰ tn The words “he delivered this message” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[1:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “in the days of” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).

[1:1]  ²² tn Heb “which he saw concerning.”

[1:1]  ²³ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[1:1]  ²⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:9]  ²⁵ tn Heb “her”; the referent (Samaria) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ²⁶ tc The MT reads the plural “wounds”; the singular is read by the LXX, Syriac, and Vg.

[1:9]  ²⁷ tn Heb “come to.”

[1:9]  ²⁸ tn Or “reached.”

[1:9]  ²⁹ tn Heb “the gate.” Kings and civic leaders typically conducted important business at the city gate (see 1 Kgs 22:10 for an example), and the term is understood here to refer by metonymy to the leadership who would be present at the gate.

[1:9]  ³⁰ tn Heb “to Jerusalem.” The expression “it has contaminated” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied to fill out the parallelism with the preceding line.