Mikha 1:2

The Judge is Coming

1:2 Listen, all you nations! ¹ 

Pay attention, all inhabitants of earth! ² 

The sovereign Lord will testify ³  against you;

the Lord will accuse you ⁴  from his majestic palace. ⁵ 

Mikha 1:5-6

1:5 All this is because of Jacob’s rebellion

and ⁶  the sins of the nation ⁷  of Israel.

How has Jacob rebelled, you ask? ⁸ 

Samaria epitomizes their rebellion! ⁹ 

Where are Judah’s pagan worship centers, you ask? ¹⁰ 

They are right in Jerusalem! ¹¹ 

1:6 “I will turn Samaria ¹²  into a heap of ruins in an open field –

vineyards will be planted there! ¹³ 

I will tumble ¹⁴  the rubble of her stone walls ¹⁵  down into the valley,

and tear down her fortifications to their foundations. ¹⁶ 

Mikha 1:13

1:13 Residents of Lachish, ¹⁷  hitch the horses to the chariots!

You ¹⁸  influenced Daughter Zion ¹⁹  to sin, ²⁰ 

for Israel’s rebellious deeds can be traced back ²¹  to you!

Mikha 7:2

7:2 Faithful men have disappeared ²²  from the land;

there are no godly men left. ²³ 

They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood; ²⁴ 

they hunt their own brother with a net. ²⁵ 

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

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

[1:2]  ³ 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]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ 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).

[1:5]  ⁶ tn Heb “and because of.” This was simplified in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[1:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “house.”

[1:5]  ⁸ tn Heb “What is the rebellion of Jacob?”

[1:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “Is it not Samaria?” The negated rhetorical question expects the answer, “It certainly is!” To make this clear the question has been translated as a strong affirmative statement.

[1:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “What are Judah’s high places?”

[1:5]  ¹¹ tn Heb “Is it not Jerusalem?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “It certainly is!”

[1:5]  sn In vv. 2-5 Micah narrows the scope of God’s judgment from the nations (vv. 2-4) to his covenant people (v. 5). Universal judgment is coming, but ironically Israel is the focal point of God’s anger. In v. 5c the prophet includes Judah within the scope of divine judgment, for it has followed in the pagan steps of the northern kingdom. He accomplishes this with rhetorical skill. In v. 5b he develops the first assertion of v. 5a (“All of this is because of Jacob’s rebellion”). One expects in v. 5c an elaboration of the second assertion in v. 5a (“and the sins of the nation of Israel”), which one assumes, in light of v. 5b, pertains to the northern kingdom. But the prophet specifies the “sins” as “high places” and makes it clear that “the nation of Israel” includes Judah. Verses 6-7 further develop v. 5b (judgment on the northern kingdom), while vv. 8-16 expand on v. 5c (judgment on Judah).

[1:5]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[1:6]  ¹² map For location see Map2 B1; Map4 D3; Map5 E2; Map6 A4; Map7 C1.

[1:6]  ¹³ tn Heb “into a planting place for vineyards.”

[1:6]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “pour” (so NASB, NIV); KJV, NRSV “pour down”; NAB “throw down”; NLT “roll.”

[1:6]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “her stones.” The term stones is a metonymy for the city walls whose foundations were constructed of stone masonry.

[1:6]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “I will uncover her foundations.” The term “foundations” refers to the lower courses of the stones of the city’s outer fortification walls.

[1:13]  ¹⁷ sn The place name Lachish sounds like the Hebrew word for “team [of horses].”

[1:13]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “she”; this has been translated as second person (“you”) in keeping with the direct address to the residents of Lachish in the previous line.

[1:13]  ¹⁹ sn The epithet Daughter Zion pictures the city of Jerusalem as a young lady.

[1:13]  ²⁰ tn Heb “She was the beginning of sin for Daughter Zion.”

[1:13]  ²¹ tn Heb “for in you was found the transgressions of Israel.”

[7:2]  ²² tn Or “have perished”; “have been destroyed.”

[7:2]  ²³ tn Heb “and an upright one among men there is not.”

[7:2]  ²⁴ tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”

[7:2]  ²⁵ sn Micah compares these ungodly people to hunters trying to capture their prey with a net.