Micah 3:1

God Will Judge Judah’s Sinful Leaders

3:1 I said,

“Listen, you leaders ¹  of Jacob,

you rulers of the nation ²  of Israel!

You ought to know what is just, ³ 

Micah 3:3-4

3:3 You ⁴  devour my people’s flesh,

strip off their skin,

and crush their bones.

You chop them up like flesh in a pot ⁵  –

like meat in a kettle.

3:4 Someday these sinners will cry to the Lord for help, ⁶ 

but he will not answer them.

He will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have done such wicked deeds.”

Micah 3:8-9

3:8 But I ⁷  am full of the courage that the Lord’s Spirit gives,

and have a strong commitment to justice. ⁸ 

This enables me to confront Jacob with its rebellion,

and Israel with its sin. ⁹ 

3:9 Listen to this, you leaders of the family ¹⁰  of Jacob,

you rulers of the nation ¹¹  of Israel!

You ¹²  hate justice

and pervert all that is right.

Micah 4:7

4:7 I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation, ¹³ 

and those far off ¹⁴  into a mighty nation.

The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion,

from that day forward and forevermore.” ¹⁵ 

Micah 5:1

5:1 (4:14) ¹⁶  But now slash yourself, ¹⁷  daughter surrounded by soldiers! ¹⁸ 

We are besieged!

With a scepter ¹⁹  they strike Israel’s ruler ²⁰ 

on the side of his face.

Micah 6:1-2

The Lord Demands Justice, not Ritual

6:1 Listen to what the Lord says:

“Get up! Defend yourself ²¹  before the mountains! ²² 

Present your case before the hills!” ²³ 

6:2 Hear the Lord’s accusation, you mountains,

you enduring foundations of the earth!

For the Lord has a case against his people;

he has a dispute with Israel! ²⁴ 

Micah 6:4

6:4 In fact, I brought you up from the land of Egypt,

I delivered you from that place of slavery.

I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to lead you. ²⁵ 

Micah 6:16

6:16 You implement the regulations of Omri,

and all the practices of Ahab’s dynasty; ²⁶ 

you follow their policies. ²⁷ 

Therefore I will make you an appalling sight, ²⁸ 

the city’s ²⁹  inhabitants will be taunted derisively, ³⁰ 

and nations will mock all of you.” ³¹ 

Micah 7:2

7:2 Faithful men have disappeared ³²  from the land;

there are no godly men left. ³³ 

They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood; ³⁴ 

they hunt their own brother with a net. ³⁵ 

[3:1]  ¹ tn Heb “heads.”

[3:1]  ² tn Heb “house.”

[3:1]  ³ tn Heb “Should you not know justice?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you should!”

[3:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “who.”

[3:3]  ⁵ tc The MT reads “and they chop up as in a pot.” The translation assumes an emendation of כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher, “as”) to כִּשְׁאֵר (kish’er, “like flesh”).

[3:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “then they will cry out to the Lord.” The words “Someday these sinners” have been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:8]  ¹⁰ sn The prophet Micah speaks here and contrasts himself with the mercenaries just denounced by the Lord in the preceding verses.

[3:8]  ¹¹ tn Heb “am full of power, the Spirit of the Lord, and justice and strength.” The appositional phrase “the Spirit of the Lord” explains the source of the prophet’s power. The phrase “justice and strength” is understood here as a hendiadys, referring to the prophet’s strong sense of justice.

[3:8]  ¹² tn Heb “to declare to Jacob his rebellion and to Israel his sin.” The words “this enables me” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[3:9]  ¹³ tn Heb “house.”

[3:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “house.”

[3:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons (also at the beginning of v. 10).

[4:7]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “make the lame into a remnant.”

[4:7]  ¹⁷ tn The precise meaning of this difficult form is uncertain. The present translation assumes the form is a Niphal participle of an otherwise unattested denominative verb הָלָא (hala’, “to be far off”; see BDB 229 s.v.), but attractive emendations include הַנַּחֲלָה (hannakhalah, “the sick one[s]”) from חָלָה (khalah) and הַנִּלְאָה (hannil’ah, “the weary one[s]”) from לָאָה (la’ah).

[4:7]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “from now until forever.”

[5:1]  ¹⁹ sn Beginning with 5:1, the verse numbers through 5:15 in the English Bible differ by one from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 5:1 ET = 4:14 HT, 5:2 ET = 5:1 HT, 5:3 ET = 5:2 HT, etc., through 5:15 ET = 5:14 HT. From 6:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.

[5:1]  ²⁰ tn The Hebrew verb גָדַד (gadad) can be translated “slash yourself” or “gather in troops.” A number of English translations are based on the latter meaning (e.g., NASB, NIV, NLT).

[5:1]  ²¹ tn Heb “daughter of a troop of warriors.”

[5:1]  ²² tn Or “staff”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “rod”; CEV “stick”; NCV “club.”

[5:1]  ²³ tn Traditionally, “the judge of Israel” (so KJV, NASB).

[6:1]  ²² tn Or “plead your case” (NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “present your plea”; NLT “state your case.”

[6:1]  ²³ sn As in some ancient Near Eastern treaties, the mountains are personified as legal witnesses that will settle the dispute between God and Israel.

[6:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “let the hills hear your voice.”

[6:2]  ²⁵ tn This verse briefly interrupts the Lord’s statement (see vv. 1, 3) as the prophet summons the mountains as witnesses. Because of this v. 2 has been placed in parentheses in the translation.

[6:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “before you.”

[6:16]  ³¹ tn Heb “the edicts of Omri are kept, and all the deeds of the house of Ahab.”

[6:16]  ³² tn Heb “and you walk in their plans.”

[6:16]  ³³ tn The Hebrew term שַׁמָּה (shammah) can refer to “destruction; ruin,” or to the reaction it produces in those who witness the destruction.

[6:16]  ³⁴ tn Heb “her”; the referent (the city) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:16]  ³⁵ tn Heb “[an object] of hissing,” which was a way of taunting someone.

[6:16]  ³⁶ tc The translation assumes an emendation of the MT’s עַמִּי (’ammi, “my people”) to עַמִּים (’ammim, “nations”).

[7:2]  ³⁴ tn Or “have perished”; “have been destroyed.”

[7:2]  ³⁵ tn Heb “and an upright one among men there is not.”

[7:2]  ³⁶ tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”

[7:2]  ³⁷ sn Micah compares these ungodly people to hunters trying to capture their prey with a net.