Micah 3:7

3:7 The prophets ¹  will be ashamed;

the omen readers will be humiliated.

All of them will cover their mouths, ² 

for they will receive no divine oracles.” ³ 

Micah 5:9

5:9 Lift your hand triumphantly against your adversaries; ⁴ 

may all your enemies be destroyed! ⁵ 

Micah 7:16

7:16 Nations will see this and be disappointed by ⁶  all their strength,

they will put their hands over their mouths,

and act as if they were deaf. ⁷ 

Micah 7:19

7:19 You will once again ⁸  have mercy on us;

you will conquer ⁹  our evil deeds;

you will hurl our ¹⁰  sins into the depths of the sea. ¹¹ 

[3:7]  ¹ tn Or “seers.”

[3:7]  ² tn Or “the mustache,” or perhaps “the beard.” Cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV “cover their lips.”

[3:7]  ³ tn Heb “for there will be no answer from God.”

[5:9]  ⁴ tn Heb “let your hand be lifted against your adversaries.”

[5:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “be cut off.”

[7:16]  ⁷ tn Or “be ashamed of.”

[7:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “and their ears will be deaf.” Apparently this means the opposing nations will be left dumbfounded by the Lord’s power. Their inability to respond will make them appear to be deaf mutes.

[7:19]  ¹⁰ tn The verb יָשׁוּב (yashuv, “he will return”) is here used adverbially in relation to the following verb, indicating that the Lord will again show mercy.

[7:19]  ¹¹ tn Some prefer to read יִכְבֹּס (yikhbos, “he will cleanse”; see HALOT 459 s.v. כבס pi). If the MT is taken as it stands, sin is personified as an enemy that the Lord subdues.

[7:19]  ¹² tn Heb “their sins,” but the final mem (ם) may be enclitic rather than a pronominal suffix. In this case the suffix from the preceding line (“our”) may be understood as doing double duty.

[7:19]  ¹³ sn In this metaphor the Lord disposes of Israel’s sins by throwing them into the waters of the sea (here symbolic of chaos).