Micah 6:15-16

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 

6:16 You implement the regulations of Omri,

and all the practices of Ahab’s dynasty; ⁴ 

you follow their policies. ⁵ 

Therefore I will make you an appalling sight, ⁶ 

the city’s ⁷  inhabitants will be taunted derisively, ⁸ 

and nations will mock all of you.” ⁹ 

[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.

[6:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “the edicts of Omri are kept, and all the deeds of the house of Ahab.”

[6:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “and you walk in their plans.”

[6:16]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew term שַׁמָּה (shammah) can refer to “destruction; ruin,” or to the reaction it produces in those who witness the destruction.

[6:16]  ⁷ tn Heb “her”; the referent (the city) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[6:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “[an object] of hissing,” which was a way of taunting someone.

[6:16]  ⁹ tc The translation assumes an emendation of the MT’s עַמִּי (’ammi, “my people”) to עַמִּים (’ammim, “nations”).