Micah 2:3

2:3 Therefore the Lord says this: “Look, I am devising disaster for this nation! ¹ 

It will be like a yoke from which you cannot free your neck. ² 

You will no longer ³  walk proudly,

for it will be a time of catastrophe.

Micah 3:5

3:5 This is what the Lord says: “The prophets who mislead my people

are as good as dead. ⁴ 

If someone gives them enough to eat,

they offer an oracle of peace. ⁵ 

But if someone does not give them food,

they are ready to declare war on him. ⁶ 

Micah 3:11

3:11 Her ⁷  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ⁸ 

her priests proclaim rulings for profit,

and her prophets read omens for pay.

Yet they claim to trust ⁹  the Lord and say,

“The Lord is among us. ¹⁰ 

Disaster will not overtake ¹¹  us!”

Micah 4:3

4:3 He will arbitrate ¹²  between many peoples

and settle disputes between many ¹³  distant nations. ¹⁴ 

They will beat their swords into plowshares, ¹⁵ 

and their spears into pruning hooks. ¹⁶ 

Nations will not use weapons ¹⁷  against other nations,

and they will no longer train for war.

Micah 5:7

5:7 Those survivors from ¹⁸  Jacob will live ¹⁹ 

in the midst of many nations. ²⁰ 

They will be like the dew the Lord sends,

like the rain on the grass,

that does not hope for men to come

or wait around for humans to arrive. ²¹ 

[2:3]  ¹ tn Heb “clan” or “extended family.”

[2:3]  ² tn Heb “from which you will not remove your neck.” The words “It will be like a yoke” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:3]  ³ tn Or “you will not.”

[3:5]  ⁴ tn Heb “concerning the prophets, those who mislead my people.” The first person pronominal suffix is awkward in a quotation formula that introduces the words of the Lord. For this reason some prefer to begin the quotation after “the Lord says” (cf. NIV), but this leaves “concerning the prophets” hanging very awkwardly at the beginning of the quotation. It is preferable to add הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) at the beginning of the quotation, right after the graphically similar יְהוָה (yÿhvah; see D. R. Hillers, Micah [Hermeneia], 44). The phrase הוֹי עַל (hoy ’al, “woe upon”) occurs in Jer 50:27 and Ezek 13:3 (with “the prophets” following the preposition in the latter instance).

[3:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “those who bite with their teeth and cry out, ‘peace.’” The phrase “bite with the teeth” is taken here as idiomatic for eating. Apparently these prophets were driven by mercenary motives. If they were paid well, they gave positive oracles to their clients, but if someone could not afford to pay them, they were hostile and delivered oracles of doom.

[3:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “but [as for the one] who does not place [food] in their mouths, they prepare for war against him.”

[3:11]  ⁷ sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).

[3:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”

[3:11]  ⁹ tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”

[3:11]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”

[3:11]  ¹¹ tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”

[4:3]  ¹⁰ tn Or “judge.”

[4:3]  ¹¹ tn Or “mighty” (NASB); KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “strong”; TEV “among the great powers.”

[4:3]  ¹² tn Heb “[for many nations] to a distance.”

[4:3]  ¹³ sn Instead of referring to the large plow as a whole, the plowshare is simply the metal tip which actually breaks the earth and cuts the furrow.

[4:3]  ¹⁴ sn This implement was used to prune the vines, i.e., to cut off extra leaves and young shoots (M. Klingbeil, NIDOTTE 1:1117-18). It was a short knife with a curved hook at the end sharpened on the inside like a sickle.

[4:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “take up the sword.”

[5:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “the remnant of” (also in v. 8).

[5:7]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “will be.”

[5:7]  ¹⁵ tn This could mean “(scattered) among the nations” (cf. CEV, NLT) or “surrounded by many nations” (cf. NRSV).

[5:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “that does not hope for man, and does not wait for the sons of men.”