Genesis 27:40

27:40 You will live by your sword

but you will serve your brother.

When you grow restless,

you will tear off his yoke

from your neck.” ¹ 

Micah 2:1-2

Land Robbers Will Lose their Land

2:1 Those who devise sinful plans are as good as dead, ² 

those who dream about doing evil as they lie in bed. ³ 

As soon as morning dawns they carry out their plans, ⁴ 

because they have the power to do so.

2:2 They confiscate the fields they desire,

and seize the houses they want. ⁵ 

They defraud people of their homes, ⁶ 

and deprive people of the land they have inherited. ⁷ 

Zephaniah 3:3

3:3 Her princes ⁸  are as fierce as roaring lions; ⁹ 

her rulers ¹⁰  are as hungry as wolves in the desert, ¹¹ 

who completely devour their prey by morning. ¹² 

[27:40]  ¹ sn You will tear off his yoke from your neck. It may be that this prophetic blessing found its fulfillment when Jerusalem fell and Edom got its revenge. The oracle makes Edom subservient to Israel and suggests the Edomites would live away from the best land and be forced to sustain themselves by violent measures.

[2:1]  ² tn Heb “Woe to those who plan sin.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe”; “ah”) was a cry used in mourning the dead.

[2:1]  ³ tn Heb “those who do evil upon their beds.”

[2:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “at the light of morning they do it.”

[2:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “they desire fields and rob [them], and houses and take [them] away.”

[2:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “and they oppress a man and his home.”

[2:2]  ⁷ tn Heb “and a man and his inheritance.” The verb עָשַׁק (’ashaq, “to oppress”; “to wrong”) does double duty in the parallel structure and is understood by ellipsis in the second line.

[3:3]  ⁸ tn Or “officials.”

[3:3]  ⁹ tn Heb “her princes in her midst are roaring lions.” The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as fierce as”) for clarity.

[3:3]  ¹⁰ tn Traditionally “judges.”

[3:3]  ¹¹ tn Heb “her judges [are] wolves of the evening,” that is, wolves that prowl at night. The translation assumes an emendation to עֲרָבָה (’aravah, “desert”). For a discussion of this and other options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 128. The metaphor has been translated as a simile (“as hungry as”) for clarity.

[3:3]  ¹² tn Heb “they do not gnaw [a bone] at morning.” The precise meaning of the line is unclear. The statement may mean these wolves devour their prey so completely that not even a bone is left to gnaw by the time morning arrives. For a discussion of this and other options, see Adele Berlin, Zephaniah (AB 25A), 129.