Mikha 2:3-4

2:3 Therefore the Lord says this: “Look, I am devising disaster for this nation! ¹ 

It will be like a yoke from which you cannot free your neck. ² 

You will no longer ³  walk proudly,

for it will be a time of catastrophe.

2:4 In that day people will sing this taunt song to you –

they will mock you with this lament: ⁴ 

‘We are completely destroyed;

they sell off ⁵  the property of my people.

How they remove it from me! ⁶ 

They assign our fields to the conqueror.’ ⁷ 

Mikha 4:10

4:10 Twist and strain, ⁸  Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor!

For you will leave the city

and live in the open field.

You will go to Babylon,

but there you will be rescued.

There the Lord will deliver ⁹  you

from the power ¹⁰  of your enemies.

Mikha 4:13

4:13 “Get up and thresh, Daughter Zion!

For I will give you iron horns; ¹¹ 

I will give you bronze hooves,

and you will crush many nations.” ¹² 

You will devote to the Lord the spoils you take from them,

and dedicate their wealth to the sovereign Ruler ¹³  of the whole earth. ¹⁴ 

Mikha 5:3

5:3 So the Lord ¹⁵  will hand the people of Israel ¹⁶  over to their enemies ¹⁷ 

until the time when the woman in labor ¹⁸  gives birth. ¹⁹ 

Then the rest of the king’s ²⁰  countrymen will return

to be reunited with the people of Israel. ²¹ 

Mikha 6:5

6:5 My people, recall how King Balak of Moab planned to harm you, ²² 

how Balaam son of Beor responded to him.

Recall how you journeyed from Shittim to Gilgal,

so you might acknowledge that the Lord has treated you fairly.” ²³ 

Mikha 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. ²⁴ 

The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen –

your appointed time of punishment – is on the way, ²⁵ 

and then you will experience confusion. ²⁶ 

[2:3]  ¹ tn Heb “clan” or “extended family.”

[2:3]  ² 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]  ³ tn Or “you will not.”

[2:4]  ⁴ tc The form נִהְיָה (nihyah) should be omitted as dittographic (note the preceding וְנָהָה נְהִי vÿnahah nÿhiy).

[2:4]  tn Heb “one will lament [with] a lamentation [and] say.”

[2:4]  ⁵ tn Or “exchange.” The LXX suggests a reading יִמַּד (yimmad) from מָדַד (madad, “to measure”). In this case one could translate, “the property of my people is measured out [i.e., for resale].”

[2:4]  ⁶ tn Heb “how one removes for me.” Apparently the preposition has the nuance “from” here (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[2:4]  ⁷ tc The Hebrew term שׁוֹבֵב (shovev, “the one turning back”) elsewhere has the nuance “apostate” (cf. NASB) or “traitor” (cf. NIV). The translation assumes an emendation to שָׁבָה (shavah, “captor”).

[2:4]  tn Heb “to the one turning back he assigns our fields.”

[4:10]  ⁸ tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”

[4:10]  ⁹ tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[4:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.

[4:13]  ¹¹ tn Heb “I will make your horn iron.”

[4:13]  ¹² sn Jerusalem (Daughter Zion at the beginning of the verse; cf. 4:8) is here compared to a powerful ox which crushes the grain on the threshing floor with its hooves.

[4:13]  ¹³ tn Or “the Lord” (so many English versions); Heb “the master.”

[4:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and their wealth to the master of all the earth.” The verb “devote” does double duty in the parallelism and is supplied in the second line for clarification.

[4:13]  sn In vv. 11-13 the prophet jumps from the present crisis (which will result in exile, v. 10) to a time beyond the restoration of the exiles when God will protect his city from invaders. The Lord’s victory over the Assyrian armies in 701 b.c. foreshadowed this.

[5:3]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:3]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the people of Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:3]  ¹⁷ tn The words “to their enemies” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:3]  ¹⁸ sn The woman in labor. Personified, suffering Jerusalem is the referent. See 4:9-10.

[5:3]  ¹⁹ sn Gives birth. The point of the figurative language is that Jerusalem finally finds relief from her suffering. See 4:10.

[5:3]  ²⁰ tn Heb “his”; the referent (the king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[5:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “to the sons of Israel.” The words “be reunited with” are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[5:3]  sn The rest of the king’s brothers are the coming king’s fellow Judahites, while the sons of Israel are the northern tribes. The verse pictures the reunification of the nation under the Davidic king. See Isa 11:12-13; Jer 31:2-6, 15-20; Ezek 37; Hos 1:11; 3:5.

[6:5]  ²² tn Heb “remember what Balak…planned.”

[6:5]  ²³ tn Heb “From Shittim to Gilgal, in order to know the just acts of the Lord.” Something appears to be missing at the beginning of the line. The present translation supplies the words, “Recall how you went.” This apparently refers to how Israel crossed the Jordan River (see Josh 3:1; 4:19-24).

[7:4]  ²⁴ 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]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and now will be their confusion.”