Mikha 2:4

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

they will mock you with this lament: ¹ 

‘We are completely destroyed;

they sell off ²  the property of my people.

How they remove it from me! ³ 

They assign our fields to the conqueror.’ ⁴ 

Mikha 3:11

3:11 Her ⁵  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ⁶ 

her priests proclaim rulings for profit,

and her prophets read omens for pay.

Yet they claim to trust ⁷  the Lord and say,

“The Lord is among us. ⁸ 

Disaster will not overtake ⁹  us!”

[2:4]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “how one removes for me.” Apparently the preposition has the nuance “from” here (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[2:4]  ⁴ 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.”

[3:11]  ⁵ sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).

[3:11]  ⁶ tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”

[3:11]  ⁷ tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”

[3:11]  ⁸ tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”

[3:11]  ⁹ tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”