Micah 1:10

1:10 Don’t spread the news in Gath! ¹ 

Don’t shed even a single tear! ² 

In Beth Leaphrah sit in the dust! ³ 

Micah 7:5

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! ⁴ 

Micah 2:6

2:6 ‘Don’t preach with such impassioned rhetoric,’ they say excitedly. ⁵ 

‘These prophets should not preach of such things;

we will not be overtaken by humiliation.’ ⁶ 

Micah 7:8

Jerusalem Will Be Vindicated

7:8 My enemies, ⁷  do not gloat ⁸  over me!

Though I have fallen, I will get up.

Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. ⁹ 

[1:10]  ¹ tn Heb “Tell it not in Gath.” The Hebrew word for “tell” (נָגַד, nagad) sounds like the name of the city, Gath (גַּת, gat).

[1:10]  ² tn The Hebrew infinitive absolute before the negated jussive emphasizes the prohibition.

[1:10]  ³ tc The translation assumes a masculine plural imperative. If one were to emend בְּבֵית (bÿvet) to בֵית (vet), Beth Leaphrah would then be the addressee and the feminine singular imperative (see Qere) could be retained, “O Beth Leaphrah, sit in the dust.”

[7:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “from the one who lies in your arms, guard the doors of your mouth.”

[2:6]  ⁷ 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.”

[2:6]  ⁸ 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”).

[7:8]  ¹⁰ tn The singular form is understood as collective.

[7:8]  ¹¹ tn Or “rejoice” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NCV “don’t laugh at me.”

[7:8]  ¹² sn Darkness represents judgment; light (also in v. 9) symbolizes deliverance. The Lord is the source of the latter.