Mikha 1:10

1:10 Don’t spread the news in Gath! ¹ 

Don’t shed even a single tear! ² 

In Beth Leaphrah sit in the dust! ³ 

Mikha 2:6

2:6 ‘Don’t preach with such impassioned rhetoric,’ they say excitedly. ⁴ 

‘These prophets should not preach of such things;

we will not be overtaken by humiliation.’ ⁵ 

Mikha 6:3

6:3 “My people, how have I wronged you? ⁶ 

How have I wearied you? Answer me!

[1:10]  ¹ tn Heb “Tell it not in Gath.” The Hebrew word for “tell” (נָגַד, nagad) sounds like the name of the city, Gath (גַּת, gat).

[1:10]  ² tn The Hebrew infinitive absolute before the negated jussive emphasizes the prohibition.

[1:10]  ³ tc The translation assumes a masculine plural imperative. If one were to emend בְּבֵית (bÿvet) to בֵית (vet), Beth Leaphrah would then be the addressee and the feminine singular imperative (see Qere) could be retained, “O Beth Leaphrah, sit in the dust.”

[1:10]  tn Heb “roll about in mourning in the dust”; or “wallow about in mourning in the dust.” The verb פָּלַשׁ (palash, “roll about in mourning [in dust]”; HALOT 935 s.v. פלשׁ) is figurative (metonymy) for sitting as an outward sign of mourning.

[1:10]  sn To sit in the dust was an outward sign of mourning. The name Beth Leaphrah means “house of dust.”

[2:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “‘Do not foam at the mouth,’ they foam at the mouth.” The verb נָטַף (nataf) means “to drip.” When used of speech it probably has the nuance “to drivel, to foam at the mouth” (HALOT 694 s.v. נטף). The sinful people tell the Lord’s prophets not to “foam at the mouth,” which probably refers in a derogatory way to their impassioned style of delivery. But the Lord (who is probably still speaking here, see v. 3) sarcastically refers to their impassioned exhortation as “foaming at the mouth.”

[2:6]  ⁵ tc If one follows the MT as it stands, it would appear that the Lord here condemns the people for their “foaming at the mouth” and then announces that judgment is inevitable. The present translation assumes that this is a continuation of the quotation of what the people say. In this case the subject of “foam at the mouth” is the Lord’s prophets. In the second line יִסַּג (yissag, a Niphal imperfect from סוּג, sug, “to remove”) is emended to יַסִּגֵנוּ (yassigenu; a Hiphil imperfect from נָסַג/נָשַׂג, nasag/nasag, “to reach; to overtake”).

[2:6]  tn Heb “they should not foam at the mouth concerning these things, humiliation will not be removed.”

[6:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “My people, what have I done to you?”