Micah 1:9-10

1:9 For Samaria’s ¹  disease ²  is incurable.

It has infected ³  Judah;

it has spread to ⁴  the leadership ⁵  of my people

and has even contaminated Jerusalem! ⁶ 

1:10 Don’t spread the news in Gath! ⁷ 

Don’t shed even a single tear! ⁸ 

In Beth Leaphrah sit in the dust! ⁹ 

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

[1:9]  ² tc The MT reads the plural “wounds”; the singular is read by the LXX, Syriac, and Vg.

[1:9]  ³ tn Heb “come to.”

[1:9]  ⁴ tn Or “reached.”

[1:9]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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.

[1:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “Tell it not in Gath.” The Hebrew word for “tell” (נָגַד, nagad) sounds like the name of the city, Gath (גַּת, gat).

[1:10]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew infinitive absolute before the negated jussive emphasizes the prohibition.

[1:10]  ⁹ tc The translation assumes a masculine plural imperative. If one were to emend בְּבֵית (bÿvet) to בֵית (vet), Beth Leaphrah would then be the addressee and the feminine singular imperative (see Qere) could be retained, “O Beth Leaphrah, sit in the dust.”