Micah 5:15

5:15 I will angrily seek vengeance

on the nations that do not obey me.” ¹ 

Micah 6:9

6:9 Listen! The Lord is calling ²  to the city!

It is wise to respect your authority, O Lord! ³ 

Listen, O nation, and those assembled in the city! ⁴ 

Micah 1:2

The Judge is Coming

1:2 Listen, all you nations! ⁵ 

Pay attention, all inhabitants of earth! ⁶ 

The sovereign Lord will testify ⁷  against you;

the Lord will accuse you ⁸  from his majestic palace. ⁹ 

Micah 3:1

God Will Judge Judah’s Sinful Leaders

3:1 I said,

“Listen, you leaders ¹⁰  of Jacob,

you rulers of the nation ¹¹  of Israel!

You ought to know what is just, ¹² 

Micah 3:9

3:9 Listen to this, you leaders of the family ¹³  of Jacob,

you rulers of the nation ¹⁴  of Israel!

You ¹⁵  hate justice

and pervert all that is right.

Micah 6:1-2

The Lord Demands Justice, not Ritual

6:1 Listen to what the Lord says:

“Get up! Defend yourself ¹⁶  before the mountains! ¹⁷ 

Present your case before the hills!” ¹⁸ 

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! ¹⁹ 

[5:15]  ¹ tn Heb “I will accomplish in anger and in rage, vengeance on the nations who do not listen.”

[6:9]  ² tn Or “the voice of the Lord is calling.” The translation understands קוֹל (qol, “voice”) as equivalent to an imperative.

[6:9]  ³ tn Heb “one who sees your name is wisdom.” It is probably better to emend יִרְאֶה (yir’eh, “he sees”) to יִרְאָה (yir’ah, “fearing”). One may then translate, “fearing your name is wisdom.” The Lord’s “name” here stands by metonymy for his authority.

[6:9]  ⁴ tn Heb (apparently) “Listen [to] the staff and the one who appointed it.” Verse 10 then begins with עוֹד (yod, “still” or “again”). The translation assumes an emendation to שִׁמְעוּ מַטֶּה וּמוֹעֵד הָעִיר (shim’u matteh umo’ed ha’ir, “listen, O tribe and the assembly of the city”).

[1:2]  ³ tn Heb “O peoples, all of them.”

[1:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “O earth and all its fullness”; KJV “and all that therein is.”

[1:2]  ⁵ tn Heb “May the sovereign Lord testify against you.” The verb וִיהִי (vihiy) is jussive, which normally conveys a volitional sense of an urgent request or prayer (“may he testify!”). However, GKC 325-26 §109.k notes that here the jussive form is used without any volitional sense for the ordinary imperfect, as a rhythmic shortening at the beginning of a sentence, thus removed as far as possible from the principal accent (cf. Gen 49:17; Deut 28:8; 1 Sam 10:5; 2 Sam 5:24; Hos 6:1; 11:4; Amos 5:14; Zeph 2:13; Zech 9:5; Pss 72:16-17; 104:31; Job 18:12; 20:23, 26, 28; 27:8; 33:21; 34:37; Ruth 3:4). Thus, the translation here renders the jussive as an ordinary imperfect. Some translations render it in a traditional jussive sense: (1) urgent request: “And let my Lord God be your accuser” (NJPS); or (2) dependent purpose/result: “that the Sovereign Lord may witness against you” (NIV).

[1:2]  ⁶ tn Heb “the Lord from his majestic palace.” Since the verb is omitted it is unclear whether the implied term be supplied from the preceding line (“he will testify against you”) or the following line (“he is leaving”). So the line may be rendered “the Lord will accuse you from his majestic temple” or “the Lord will come forth from his majestic temple.” Most translations render it literally, but some remove the ambiguity: “the Lord God accuses you from his holy temple” (CEV); “He speaks from his holy temple” (TEV).

[1:2]  ⁷ tn Or “his holy temple” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). This refers to the Lord’s dwelling in heaven, however, rather than the temple in Jerusalem (note the following verse, which describes a theophany).

[3:1]  ⁴ tn Heb “heads.”

[3:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “house.”

[3:1]  ⁶ tn Heb “Should you not know justice?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you should!”

[3:9]  ⁵ tn Heb “house.”

[3:9]  ⁶ tn Heb “house.”

[3:9]  ⁷ tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons (also at the beginning of v. 10).

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

[6:1]  ⁷ 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]  ⁸ tn Heb “let the hills hear your voice.”

[6:2]  ⁷ 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.