Micah 7:11

7:11 It will be a day for rebuilding your walls;

in that day your boundary will be extended. ¹ 

Micah 7:4

7:4 The best of them is like a thorn;

the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes. ² 

The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen –

your appointed time of punishment – is on the way, ³ 

and then you will experience confusion. ⁴ 

Micah 7:12

A Closing Prayer

7:12 In that day people ⁵  will come to you ⁶ 

from Assyria as far as ⁷  Egypt,

from Egypt as far as the Euphrates River, ⁸ 

from the seacoasts ⁹  and the mountains. ¹⁰ 

[7:11]  ¹ sn Personified Jerusalem declares her confidence in vv. 8-10; in this verse she is assured that she will indeed be vindicated.

[7:4]  ² tn Heb “[the] godly from a row of thorn bushes.” The preposition מִן (min) is comparative and the comparative element (perhaps “sharper” is the idea) is omitted. See BDB 582 s.v. 6 and GKC 431 §133.e.

[7:4]  ³ tn Heb “the day of your watchmen, your appointed [time], is coming.” The present translation takes “watchmen” to refer to actual sentries. However, the “watchmen” could refer figuratively to the prophets who had warned Judah of approaching judgment. In this case one could translate, “The day your prophets warned about – your appointed time of punishment – is on the way.”

[7:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “and now will be their confusion.”

[7:12]  ³ tn Heb “they.” The referent has been specified as “people,” referring either to the nations (coming to God with their tribute) or to the exiles of Israel (returning to the Lord).

[7:12]  ⁴ tn The masculine pronominal suffix suggests the Lord is addressed. Some emend to a feminine form and take Jerusalem as the addressee.

[7:12]  ⁵ tc The MT reads וְעָרֵי (vÿ’arey, “and the cities [of Egypt]”), but the parallel line indicates this is a corruption of וְעַד (vÿ’ad, “even to”).

[7:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “the River,” referring to the Euphrates River. This has been specified in the translation for clarity (so also NASB, NIV).

[7:12]  ⁷ tn Heb “and sea from sea.” Many prefer to emend this to מִיָּם עַד יָם (miyyam ’ad yam, “from sea to sea”).

[7:12]  ⁸ tn Heb “and mountain of the mountain.” Many prefer to emend this to וּמֵהַר עַד הַר (umehar ’ad har, “and mountain to mountain”).