Micah 1:8

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

I will walk around barefoot ²  and without my outer garments. ³ 

I will howl ⁴  like a wild dog, ⁵ 

and screech ⁶  like an owl. ⁷ 

Micah 1:11

1:11 Residents ⁸  of Shaphir, ⁹  pass by in nakedness and humiliation! ¹⁰ 

The residents of Zaanan can’t leave their city. ¹¹ 

Beth Ezel ¹²  mourns, ¹³ 

“He takes from you what he desires.” ¹⁴ 

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

[1:8]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Heb “I will make lamentation.”

[1:8]  ⁵ tn Or “a jackal”; CEV “howling wolves.”

[1:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “[make] a mourning.”

[1:8]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps “ostrich” (cf. ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

[1:11]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew participial form, which is feminine singular, is here used in a collective sense for the all the residents of the town. See GKC 394 §122.s.

[1:11]  ⁹ sn The place name Shaphir means “pleasant” in Hebrew.

[1:11]  ¹⁰ tn The imperatival form is used rhetorically, emphasizing that the inhabitants of Shaphir will pass by into exile.

[1:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “have not come out”; NIV “will not come out”; NLT “dare not come outside.”

[1:11]  ¹² sn The place name Beth Ezel means “house of nearness” or “house of proximity” in Hebrew.

[1:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “the lamentation of Beth Ezel.” The following words could be the lamentation offered up by Beth Ezel (subjective genitive) or the mourning song sung over it (objective genitive).

[1:11]  ¹⁴ tc The form עֶמְדָּתוֹ (’emdato) should be emended to חֲמַדְּתוֹ (khamadto, “his (the conqueror’s) desire”).