Micah 4:8

4:8 As for you, watchtower for the flock, ¹ 

fortress of Daughter Zion ²  –

your former dominion will be restored, ³ 

the sovereignty that belongs to Daughter Jerusalem.

Micah 7:6

7:6 For a son thinks his father is a fool,

a daughter challenges ⁴  her mother,

and a daughter-in-law her mother-in-law;

a man’s enemies are his own servants. ⁵ 

Micah 1:13

1:13 Residents of Lachish, ⁶  hitch the horses to the chariots!

You ⁷  influenced Daughter Zion ⁸  to sin, ⁹ 

for Israel’s rebellious deeds can be traced back ¹⁰  to you!

Micah 5:1

5:1 (4:14) ¹¹  But now slash yourself, ¹²  daughter surrounded by soldiers! ¹³ 

We are besieged!

With a scepter ¹⁴  they strike Israel’s ruler ¹⁵ 

on the side of his face.

Micah 4:10

4:10 Twist and strain, ¹⁶  Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor!

For you will leave the city

and live in the open field.

You will go to Babylon,

but there you will be rescued.

There the Lord will deliver ¹⁷  you

from the power ¹⁸  of your enemies.

Micah 4:13

4:13 “Get up and thresh, Daughter Zion!

For I will give you iron horns; ¹⁹ 

I will give you bronze hooves,

and you will crush many nations.” ²⁰ 

You will devote to the Lord the spoils you take from them,

and dedicate their wealth to the sovereign Ruler ²¹  of the whole earth. ²² 

Micah 1:8

1:8 For this reason I ²³  will mourn and wail;

I will walk around barefoot ²⁴  and without my outer garments. ²⁵ 

I will howl ²⁶  like a wild dog, ²⁷ 

and screech ²⁸  like an owl. ²⁹ 

Micah 1:14

1:14 Therefore you ³⁰  will have to say farewell ³¹  to Moresheth Gath.

The residents ³²  of Achzib ³³  will be as disappointing

as a dried up well ³⁴  to the kings of Israel. ³⁵ 

[4:8]  ¹ tn Heb “Migdal-eder.” Some English versions transliterate this phrase, apparently because they view it as a place name (cf. NAB).

[4:8]  ² sn The city of David, located within Jerusalem, is addressed as Daughter Zion. As the home of the Davidic king, who was Israel’s shepherd (Ps 78:70-72), the royal citadel could be viewed metaphorically as the watchtower of the flock.

[4:8]  ³ tn Heb “to you it will come, the former dominion will arrive.”

[7:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “rises up against.”

[7:6]  ⁵ tn Heb “the enemies of a man are the men of his house.”

[1:13]  ⁷ sn The place name Lachish sounds like the Hebrew word for “team [of horses].”

[1:13]  ⁸ tn Heb “she”; this has been translated as second person (“you”) in keeping with the direct address to the residents of Lachish in the previous line.

[1:13]  ⁹ sn The epithet Daughter Zion pictures the city of Jerusalem as a young lady.

[1:13]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “She was the beginning of sin for Daughter Zion.”

[1:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “for in you was found the transgressions of Israel.”

[5:1]  ¹⁰ 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]  ¹¹ 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]  ¹² tn Heb “daughter of a troop of warriors.”

[5:1]  ¹³ tn Or “staff”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “rod”; CEV “stick”; NCV “club.”

[5:1]  ¹⁴ tn Traditionally, “the judge of Israel” (so KJV, NASB).

[4:10]  ¹³ tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”

[4:10]  ¹⁴ tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[4:10]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.

[4:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “I will make your horn iron.”

[4:13]  ¹⁷ sn Jerusalem (Daughter Zion at the beginning of the verse; cf. 4:8) is here compared to a powerful ox which crushes the grain on the threshing floor with its hooves.

[4:13]  ¹⁸ tn Or “the Lord” (so many English versions); Heb “the master.”

[4:13]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “and their wealth to the master of all the earth.” The verb “devote” does double duty in the parallelism and is supplied in the second line for clarification.

[1:8]  ¹⁹ tn The prophet is probably the speaker here.

[1:8]  ²⁰ tn Or “stripped.” The precise meaning of this Hebrew word is unclear. It may refer to walking barefoot (see 2 Sam 15:30) or to partially stripping oneself (see Job 12:17-19).

[1:8]  ²¹ tn Heb “naked.” This probably does not refer to complete nudity, but to stripping off one’s outer garments as an outward sign of the destitution felt by the mourner.

[1:8]  ²² tn Heb “I will make lamentation.”

[1:8]  ²³ tn Or “a jackal”; CEV “howling wolves.”

[1:8]  ²⁴ tn Heb “[make] a mourning.”

[1:8]  ²⁵ tn Or perhaps “ostrich” (cf. ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

[1:14]  ²² tn The subject of the feminine singular verb is probably Lachish.

[1:14]  ²³ tn Heb “you will give a dowry to”; NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “give parting gifts to.” Lachish is compared to a father who presents wedding gifts to his daughter as she leaves her father’s home to take up residence with her husband. In similar fashion Lachish will bid farewell to Moresheth Gath, for the latter will be taken by the invader.

[1:14]  ²⁴ tn Heb “houses.” By metonymy this refers to the people who live in them.

[1:14]  ²⁵ sn The place name Achzib (אַכְזִיב, ’akhziv, “place on the dried up river”; see HALOT 45 s.v. אַכְזָב) creates a word play on the similar sounding term כָּזָב (kazav, “lie, deception”; HALOT 468 s.v. כָּזָב). Like the dried up river upon which its name was based, the city of Achzib would fail to help the kings of Israel in their time of need.

[1:14]  ²⁶ tn Or “will be a deception.” The term אַכְזָב (’akhzav) is often translated “deception,” as derived from the verb I כָּזָב (“to deceive, lie”; HALOT 467-68 s.v. I כזב). However, it probably means “what is dried up,” since (1) the noun elsewhere refers to an empty well or dried river in summer (Jer 15:18; cf. Job 6:15-20) (HALOT 45 s.v. אַכְזָב); (2) the place-name “Achzib” (אַכְזִיב) literally means “place on the אַכְזָב [dried up river]” (HALOT 45 s.v. אַכְזָב); and (3) it is derived from the verb II כָּזָב (“to dry up [brook]”; Isa 58:11), which also appears in Mishnaic Hebrew and Arabic. The point of the metaphor is that Achzib will be as disappointing to the kings of Israel as a dried up spring in the summer is to a thirsty traveler in the Jordanian desert.

[1:14]  ²⁷ sn Because of the enemy invasion, Achzib would not be able to deliver soldiers for the army and/or services normally rendered to the crown.