Discovery BoxMicah 1:14
Context1:14 Therefore you 1 will have to say farewell 2 to Moresheth Gath.
The residents 3 of Achzib 4 will be as disappointing
as a dried up well 5 to the kings of Israel. 6
Micah 2:9
Context2:9 You wrongly evict widows 7 among my people from their cherished homes.
You defraud their children 8 of their prized inheritance. 9
Micah 3:12
Context3:12 Therefore, because of you, 10 Zion will be plowed up like 11 a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
and the Temple Mount 12 will become a hill overgrown with brush! 13
Micah 6:10
Context6:10 “I will not overlook, 14 O sinful house, the dishonest gain you have hoarded away, 15
or the smaller-than-standard measure I hate so much. 16
[1:14] 1 tn The subject of the feminine singular verb is probably Lachish.
[1:14] 2 tn Heb “you will give a dowry to”; NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “give parting gifts to.” Lachish is compared to a father who presents wedding gifts to his daughter as she leaves her father’s home to take up residence with her husband. In similar fashion Lachish will bid farewell to Moresheth Gath, for the latter will be taken by the invader.
[1:14] 3 tn Heb “houses.” By metonymy this refers to the people who live in them.
[1:14] 4 sn The place name Achzib (אַכְזִיב, ’akhziv, “place on the dried up river”; see HALOT 45 s.v. אַכְזָב) creates a word play on the similar sounding term כָּזָב (kazav, “lie, deception”; HALOT 468 s.v. כָּזָב). Like the dried up river upon which its name was based, the city of Achzib would fail to help the kings of Israel in their time of need.
[1:14] 5 tn Or “will be a deception.” The term אַכְזָב (’akhzav) is often translated “deception,” as derived from the verb I כָּזָב (“to deceive, lie”; HALOT 467-68 s.v. I כזב). However, it probably means “what is dried up,” since (1) the noun elsewhere refers to an empty well or dried river in summer (Jer 15:18; cf. Job 6:15-20) (HALOT 45 s.v. אַכְזָב); (2) the place-name “Achzib” (אַכְזִיב) literally means “place on the אַכְזָב [dried up river]” (HALOT 45 s.v. אַכְזָב); and (3) it is derived from the verb II כָּזָב (“to dry up [brook]”; Isa 58:11), which also appears in Mishnaic Hebrew and Arabic. The point of the metaphor is that Achzib will be as disappointing to the kings of Israel as a dried up spring in the summer is to a thirsty traveler in the Jordanian desert.
[1:14] 6 sn Because of the enemy invasion, Achzib would not be able to deliver soldiers for the army and/or services normally rendered to the crown.
[2:9] 7 tn Heb “women.” This may be a synecdoche of the whole (women) for the part (widows).
[2:9] 8 tn Heb “her little children” or “her infants”; ASV, NRSV “young children.”
[2:9] 9 tn Heb “from their children you take my glory forever.” The yod (י) ending on הֲדָרִי (hadariy) is usually taken as a first person common singular suffix (“my glory”). But it may be the archaic genitive ending (“glory of”) in the construct expression “glory of perpetuity,” that is, “perpetual glory.” In either case, this probably refers to the dignity or honor the
[3:12] 13 tn The plural pronoun refers to the leaders, priests, and prophets mentioned in the preceding verse.
[3:12] 14 tn Or “into” (an adverbial accusative of result).
[3:12] 15 tn Heb “the mountain of the house” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).
[3:12] 16 tn Heb “a high place of overgrowth.”
[6:10] 19 tn The meaning of the first Hebrew word in the line is unclear. Possibly it is a combination of the interrogative particle and אִשׁ (’ish), an alternate form of יֵשׁ (yesh, “there is/are”). One could then translate literally, “Are there treasures of sin [in] the house of the sinful?” The translation assumes an emendation to הַאֶשֶּׁה (ha’esheh, from נָשָׁא, nasha’, “to forget”), “Will I forget?” The rhetorical question expects an answer, “No, I will not forget.”
[6:10] 20 tn Heb “the treasures of sin”; NASB “treasures of wickedness”; NIV “ill-gotten treasures.”
