Micah 1:13

1:13 Residents of Lachish, ¹  hitch the horses to the chariots!

You ²  influenced Daughter Zion ³  to sin, ⁴ 

for Israel’s rebellious deeds can be traced back ⁵  to you!

Micah 2:13

2:13 The one who can break through barriers will lead them out ⁶ 

they will break out, pass through the gate, and leave. ⁷ 

Their king will advance ⁸  before them,

The Lord himself will lead them. ⁹ 

Micah 3:6

3:6 Therefore night will fall, and you will receive no visions; ¹⁰ 

it will grow dark, and you will no longer be able to read the omens. ¹¹ 

The sun will set on these prophets,

and the daylight will turn to darkness over their heads. ¹² 

Micah 5:3

5:3 So the Lord ¹³  will hand the people of Israel ¹⁴  over to their enemies ¹⁵ 

until the time when the woman in labor ¹⁶  gives birth. ¹⁷ 

Then the rest of the king’s ¹⁸  countrymen will return

to be reunited with the people of Israel. ¹⁹ 

Micah 7:1-2

Micah Laments Judah’s Sin

7:1 I am depressed! ²⁰ 

Indeed, ²¹  it is as if the summer fruit has been gathered,

and the grapes have been harvested. ²² 

There is no grape cluster to eat,

no fresh figs that I crave so much. ²³ 

7:2 Faithful men have disappeared ²⁴  from the land;

there are no godly men left. ²⁵ 

They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood; ²⁶ 

they hunt their own brother with a net. ²⁷ 

[1:13]  ¹ sn The place name Lachish sounds like the Hebrew word for “team [of horses].”

[1:13]  ² tn Heb “she”; this has been translated as second person (“you”) in keeping with the direct address to the residents of Lachish in the previous line.

[1:13]  ³ sn The epithet Daughter Zion pictures the city of Jerusalem as a young lady.

[1:13]  ⁴ tn Heb “She was the beginning of sin for Daughter Zion.”

[1:13]  ⁵ tn Heb “for in you was found the transgressions of Israel.”

[2:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “the one who breaks through goes up before them.” The verb form is understood as a perfect of certitude, emphasizing the certainty of this coming event.

[2:13]  ⁷ tn The three verb forms (a perfect and two preterites with vav [ו] consecutive) indicate certitude.

[2:13]  ⁸ tn The verb form (a preterite with vav [ו] consecutive) indicates certitude.

[2:13]  ⁹ tn Heb “the Lord [will be] at their head.”

[3:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “it will be night for you without a vision.”

[3:6]  ¹² tn Heb “it will be dark for you without divination.”

[3:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “and the day will be dark over them.”

[5:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:3]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the people of Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:3]  ¹⁸ tn The words “to their enemies” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ¹⁹ sn The woman in labor. Personified, suffering Jerusalem is the referent. See 4:9-10.

[5:3]  ²⁰ sn Gives birth. The point of the figurative language is that Jerusalem finally finds relief from her suffering. See 4:10.

[5:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “his”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:3]  ²² tn Heb “to the sons of Israel.” The words “be reunited with” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[7:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “woe to me!” In light of the image that follows, perhaps one could translate, “I am disappointed.”

[7:1]  ²² tn Or “for.”

[7:1]  ²³ tn Heb “I am like the gathering of the summer fruit, like the gleanings of the harvest.” Micah is not comparing himself to the harvested fruit. There is an ellipsis here, as the second half of the verse makes clear. The idea is, “I am like [one at the time] the summer fruit is gathered and the grapes are harvested.”

[7:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “my appetite craves.”

[7:2]  ²⁶ tn Or “have perished”; “have been destroyed.”

[7:2]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and an upright one among men there is not.”

[7:2]  ²⁸ tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”

[7:2]  ²⁹ sn Micah compares these ungodly people to hunters trying to capture their prey with a net.