Micah 3:2

3:2 yet you ¹  hate what is good, ² 

and love what is evil. ³ 

You flay my people’s skin ⁴ 

and rip the flesh from their bones. ⁵ 

Micah 2:3

2:3 Therefore the Lord says this: “Look, I am devising disaster for this nation! ⁶ 

It will be like a yoke from which you cannot free your neck. ⁷ 

You will no longer ⁸  walk proudly,

for it will be a time of catastrophe.

Micah 7:14

7:14 Shepherd your people with your shepherd’s rod, ⁹ 

the flock that belongs to you, ¹⁰ 

the one that lives alone in a thicket,

in the midst of a pastureland. ¹¹ 

Allow them to graze in Bashan and Gilead, ¹² 

as they did in the old days. ¹³ 

Micah 3:11

3:11 Her ¹⁴  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ¹⁵ 

her priests proclaim rulings for profit,

and her prophets read omens for pay.

Yet they claim to trust ¹⁶  the Lord and say,

“The Lord is among us. ¹⁷ 

Disaster will not overtake ¹⁸  us!”

[3:2]  ¹ tn Heb “the ones who.”

[3:2]  ² tn Or “good.”

[3:2]  ³ tn Or “evil.”

[3:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “their skin from upon them.” The referent of the pronoun (“my people,” referring to Jacob and/or the house of Israel, with the Lord as the speaker) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[3:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “and their flesh from their bones.”

[2:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “clan” or “extended family.”

[2:3]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Or “you will not.”

[7:14]  ¹¹ tn Or “with your scepter” (the Hebrew term can mean either “rod” or “scepter”).

[7:14]  ¹² tn Heb “the flock of your inheritance.”

[7:14]  ¹³ tn Or “in the midst of Carmel.” The Hebrew term translated “pastureland” may be a place name.

[7:14]  ¹⁴ sn The regions of Bashan and Gilead, located in Transjordan, were noted for their rich grazing lands.

[7:14]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “as in the days of antiquity.”

[3:11]  ¹⁶ sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).

[3:11]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”

[3:11]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”

[3:11]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”

[3:11]  ²⁰ tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”