Micah 4:9

4:9 Jerusalem, why are you ¹  now shouting so loudly? ² 

Has your king disappeared? ³ 

Has your wise leader ⁴  been destroyed?

Is this why ⁵  pain grips ⁶  you as if you were a woman in labor?

Micah 7:1-2

Micah Laments Judah’s Sin

7:1 I am depressed! ⁷ 

Indeed, ⁸  it is as if the summer fruit has been gathered,

and the grapes have been harvested. ⁹ 

There is no grape cluster to eat,

no fresh figs that I crave so much. ¹⁰ 

7:2 Faithful men have disappeared ¹¹  from the land;

there are no godly men left. ¹² 

They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood; ¹³ 

they hunt their own brother with a net. ¹⁴ 

[4:9]  ¹ tn The Hebrew form is feminine singular, indicating that Jerusalem, personified as a young woman, is now addressed (see v. 10). In v. 8 the tower/fortress was addressed with masculine forms, so there is clearly a shift in addressee here. “Jerusalem” has been supplied in the translation at the beginning of v. 9 to make this shift apparent.

[4:9]  ² tn Heb “Now why are you shouting [with] a shout.”

[4:9]  ³ tn Heb “Is there no king over you?”

[4:9]  ⁴ tn Traditionally, “counselor” (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). This refers to the king mentioned in the previous line; the title points to the king’s roles as chief strategist and policy maker, both of which required extraordinary wisdom.

[4:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “that.” The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) is used here in a resultative sense; for this use see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §450.

[4:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “grabs hold of, seizes.”

[7:1]  ⁷ tn Heb “woe to me!” In light of the image that follows, perhaps one could translate, “I am disappointed.”

[7:1]  ⁸ tn Or “for.”

[7:1]  ⁹ tn Heb “I am like the gathering of the summer fruit, like the gleanings of the harvest.” Micah is not comparing himself to the harvested fruit. There is an ellipsis here, as the second half of the verse makes clear. The idea is, “I am like [one at the time] the summer fruit is gathered and the grapes are harvested.”

[7:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “my appetite craves.”

[7:2]  ¹³ tn Or “have perished”; “have been destroyed.”

[7:2]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and an upright one among men there is not.”

[7:2]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”

[7:2]  ¹⁶ sn Micah compares these ungodly people to hunters trying to capture their prey with a net.