Micah 1:6-9

1:6 “I will turn Samaria ¹  into a heap of ruins in an open field –

vineyards will be planted there! ² 

I will tumble ³  the rubble of her stone walls ⁴  down into the valley,

and tear down her fortifications to their foundations. ⁵ 

1:7 All her carved idols will be smashed to pieces;

all her metal cult statues will be destroyed by fire. ⁶ 

I will make a waste heap ⁷  of all her images.

Since ⁸  she gathered the metal ⁹  as a prostitute collects her wages,

the idols will become a prostitute’s wages again.” ¹⁰ 

1:8 For this reason I ¹¹  will mourn and wail;

I will walk around barefoot ¹²  and without my outer garments. ¹³ 

I will howl ¹⁴  like a wild dog, ¹⁵ 

and screech ¹⁶  like an owl. ¹⁷ 

1:9 For Samaria’s ¹⁸  disease ¹⁹  is incurable.

It has infected ²⁰  Judah;

it has spread to ²¹  the leadership ²²  of my people

and has even contaminated Jerusalem! ²³ 

[1:6]  ¹ map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[1:6]  ² tn Heb “into a planting place for vineyards.”

[1:6]  ³ tn Heb “pour” (so NASB, NIV); KJV, NRSV “pour down”; NAB “throw down”; NLT “roll.”

[1:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “her stones.” The term stones is a metonymy for the city walls whose foundations were constructed of stone masonry.

[1:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “I will uncover her foundations.” The term “foundations” refers to the lower courses of the stones of the city’s outer fortification walls.

[1:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “and all her prostitute’s wages will be burned with fire.”

[1:7]  ⁷ tn Heb “I will make desolate” (so NASB).

[1:7]  ⁸ tn Or “for” (KJV, NASB, NRSV).

[1:7]  ⁹ tn No object is specified in the Hebrew text; the words “the metal” are supplied from the context.

[1:7]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “for from a prostitute’s wages she gathered, and to a prostitute’s wages they will return.” When the metal was first collected it was comparable to the coins a prostitute would receive for her services. The metal was then formed into idols, but now the Lord’s fiery judgment would reduce the metal images to their original condition.

[1:8]  ¹¹ tn The prophet is probably the speaker here.

[1:8]  ¹² tn Or “stripped.” The precise meaning of this Hebrew word is unclear. It may refer to walking barefoot (see 2 Sam 15:30) or to partially stripping oneself (see Job 12:17-19).

[1:8]  ¹³ tn Heb “naked.” This probably does not refer to complete nudity, but to stripping off one’s outer garments as an outward sign of the destitution felt by the mourner.

[1:8]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I will make lamentation.”

[1:8]  ¹⁵ tn Or “a jackal”; CEV “howling wolves.”

[1:8]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “[make] a mourning.”

[1:8]  ¹⁷ tn Or perhaps “ostrich” (cf. ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

[1:9]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “her”; the referent (Samaria) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[1:9]  ¹⁹ tc The MT reads the plural “wounds”; the singular is read by the LXX, Syriac, and Vg.

[1:9]  ²⁰ tn Heb “come to.”

[1:9]  ²¹ tn Or “reached.”

[1:9]  ²² tn Heb “the gate.” Kings and civic leaders typically conducted important business at the city gate (see 1 Kgs 22:10 for an example), and the term is understood here to refer by metonymy to the leadership who would be present at the gate.

[1:9]  ²³ tn Heb “to Jerusalem.” The expression “it has contaminated” do not appear in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied to fill out the parallelism with the preceding line.