Micah 6:15

6:15 You will plant crops, but will not harvest them;

you will squeeze oil from the olives, ¹  but you will have no oil to rub on your bodies; ² 

you will squeeze juice from the grapes, but you will have no wine to drink. ³ 

Micah 6:14

6:14 You will eat, but not be satisfied.

Even if you have the strength ⁴  to overtake some prey, ⁵ 

you will not be able to carry it away; ⁶ 

if you do happen to carry away something,

I will deliver it over to the sword.

Micah 4:12

4:12 But they do not know what the Lord is planning;

they do not understand his strategy.

He has gathered them like stalks of grain to be threshed ⁷  at the threshing floor.

Micah 5:13

5:13 I will remove your idols and sacred pillars from your midst;

you will no longer worship what your own hands made.

Micah 3:4

3:4 Someday these sinners will cry to the Lord for help, ⁸ 

but he will not answer them.

He will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have done such wicked deeds.”

Micah 2:3

2:3 Therefore the Lord says this: “Look, I am devising disaster for this nation! ⁹ 

It will be like a yoke from which you cannot free your neck. ¹⁰ 

You will no longer ¹¹  walk proudly,

for it will be a time of catastrophe.

Micah 4:3

4:3 He will arbitrate ¹²  between many peoples

and settle disputes between many ¹³  distant nations. ¹⁴ 

They will beat their swords into plowshares, ¹⁵ 

and their spears into pruning hooks. ¹⁶ 

Nations will not use weapons ¹⁷  against other nations,

and they will no longer train for war.

Micah 5:7

5:7 Those survivors from ¹⁸  Jacob will live ¹⁹ 

in the midst of many nations. ²⁰ 

They will be like the dew the Lord sends,

like the rain on the grass,

that does not hope for men to come

or wait around for humans to arrive. ²¹ 

[6:15]  ¹ tn Heb “you will tread olives.” Literally treading on olives with one’s feet could be harmful and would not supply the necessary pressure to release the oil. See O. Borowski, Agriculture in Iron Age Israel, 119. The Hebrew term דָּרַךְ (darakh) may have an idiomatic sense of “press” here, or perhaps the imagery of the following parallel line (referring to treading grapes) has dictated the word choice.

[6:15]  ² tn Heb “but you will not rub yourselves with oil.”

[6:15]  ³ tn Heb “and juice, but you will not drink wine.” The verb תִדְרֹךְ (tidrokh, “you will tread”) must be supplied from the preceding line.

[6:14]  ⁴ tc The first Hebrew term in the line (וְיֶשְׁחֲךָ, vÿyeshkhakha) is obscure. HALOT 446 s.v. יֶשַׁח understands a noun meaning “filth,” which would yield the translation, “and your filth is inside you.” The translation assumes an emendation to כֹּחַ-וְיֶשׁ (vÿyesh-koakh, “and [if] there is strength inside you”).

[6:14]  ⁵ tn The meaning of the Hebrew term וְתַסֵּג (vÿtasseg) is unclear. The translation assumes it is a Hiphal imperfect from נָסַג/נָשַׂג (nasag/nasag, “reach; overtake”) and that hunting imagery is employed. (Note the reference to hunger in the first line of the verse.) See D. R. Hillers, Micah (Hermeneia), 80.

[6:14]  ⁶ tn The Hiphal of פָּלַט (palat) is used in Isa 5:29 of an animal carrying its prey to a secure place.

[4:12]  ⁷ tn The words “to be threshed” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation to make it clear that the Lord is planning to enable “Daughter Zion” to “thresh” her enemies.

[3:4]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “then they will cry out to the Lord.” The words “Someday these sinners” have been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:3]  ¹³ tn Heb “clan” or “extended family.”

[2:3]  ¹⁴ 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]  ¹⁵ tn Or “you will not.”

[4:3]  ¹⁶ tn Or “judge.”

[4:3]  ¹⁷ tn Or “mighty” (NASB); KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “strong”; TEV “among the great powers.”

[4:3]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “[for many nations] to a distance.”

[4:3]  ¹⁹ sn Instead of referring to the large plow as a whole, the plowshare is simply the metal tip which actually breaks the earth and cuts the furrow.

[4:3]  ²⁰ sn This implement was used to prune the vines, i.e., to cut off extra leaves and young shoots (M. Klingbeil, NIDOTTE 1:1117-18). It was a short knife with a curved hook at the end sharpened on the inside like a sickle.

[4:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “take up the sword.”

[5:7]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “the remnant of” (also in v. 8).

[5:7]  ²⁰ tn Heb “will be.”

[5:7]  ²¹ tn This could mean “(scattered) among the nations” (cf. CEV, NLT) or “surrounded by many nations” (cf. NRSV).

[5:7]  ²² tn Heb “that does not hope for man, and does not wait for the sons of men.”