Micah 1:3

1:3 Look, ¹  the Lord is coming out of his dwelling place!

He will descend and march on the earth’s mountaintops! ² 

Micah 5:5

5:5 He will give us peace. ³ 

Should the Assyrians try to invade our land

and attempt to set foot in our fortresses, ⁴ 

we will send ⁵  against them seven ⁶  shepherd-rulers, ⁷ 

make that eight commanders. ⁸ 

Micah 6:15

6:15 You will plant crops, but will not harvest them;

you will squeeze oil from the olives, ⁹  but you will have no oil to rub on your bodies; ¹⁰ 

you will squeeze juice from the grapes, but you will have no wine to drink. ¹¹ 

Micah 5:6

5:6 They will rule ¹²  the land of Assyria with the sword,

the land of Nimrod ¹³  with a drawn sword. ¹⁴ 

Our king ¹⁵  will rescue us from the Assyrians

should they attempt to invade our land

and try to set foot in our territory.

[1:3]  ¹ tn Or “For look.” The expression כִּי־הִנֵּה (ki-hinneh) may function as an explanatory introduction (“For look!”; Isa 26:21; 60:2; 65:17, 18: 66:15; Jer 1:15; 25:29; 30:10; 45:5; 46:27; 50:9; Ezek 30:9; 36:9; Zech 2:10; 3:8), or as an emphatic introduction (“Look!”; Jdgs 3:15; Isa 3:1; Jer 8:17; 30:3; 49:15; Hos 9:6; Joel 3:1 [HT 4:1]; Amos 4:2, 13; 6:11, 14; 9:9; Hab 1:6; Zech 2:9 [HT 2:13]; Zech 3:9; 11:16).

[1:3]  ² tn Or “high places” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[5:5]  ³ tn Heb “and this one will be peace”; ASV “and this man shall be our peace” (cf. Eph 2:14).

[5:5]  ⁴ tc Some prefer to read “in our land,” emending the text to בְּאַדְמָתֵנוּ (bÿ’admatenu).

[5:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “raise up.”

[5:5]  ⁶ sn The numbers seven and eight here symbolize completeness and emphasize that Israel will have more than enough military leadership and strength to withstand the Assyrian advance.

[5:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “shepherds.”

[5:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “and eight leaders of men.”

[6:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “you will tread olives.” Literally treading on olives with one’s feet could be harmful and would not supply the necessary pressure to release the oil. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 119. The Hebrew term דָּרַךְ (darakh) may have an idiomatic sense of “press” here, or perhaps the imagery of the following parallel line (referring to treading grapes) has dictated the word choice.

[6:15]  ⁶ tn Heb “but you will not rub yourselves with oil.”

[6:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “and juice, but you will not drink wine.” The verb תִדְרֹךְ (tidrokh, “you will tread”) must be supplied from the preceding line.

[5:6]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps “break”; or “defeat.”

[5:6]  ⁸ sn According to Gen 10:8-12, Nimrod, who was famous as a warrior and hunter, founded Assyria.

[5:6]  ⁹ tc The MT reads “in her gates,” but the text should be emended to בַּפְּתִיחָה (baptikhah, “with a drawn sword”).

[5:6]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the coming king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.