Mikha 5:9

5:9 Lift your hand triumphantly against your adversaries; ¹ 

may all your enemies be destroyed! ² 

Mikha 7:6

7:6 For a son thinks his father is a fool,

a daughter challenges ³  her mother,

and a daughter-in-law her mother-in-law;

a man’s enemies are his own servants. ⁴ 

Mikha 7:8

Jerusalem Will Be Vindicated

7:8 My enemies, ⁵  do not gloat ⁶  over me!

Though I have fallen, I will get up.

Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light. ⁷ 

Mikha 7:10

7:10 When my enemies see this, they will be covered with shame.

They say ⁸  to me, “Where is the Lord your God?”

I will gloat over them. ⁹ 

Then they will be trampled down ¹⁰ 

like mud in the streets.

Mikha 2:8

2:8 but you rise up as an enemy against my people. ¹¹ 

You steal a robe from a friend, ¹² 

from those who pass by peacefully as if returning from a war. ¹³ 

Mikha 4:10

4:10 Twist and strain, ¹⁴  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 ¹⁵  you

from the power ¹⁶  of your enemies.

[5:9]  ¹ tn Heb “let your hand be lifted against your adversaries.”

[5:9]  ² tn Heb “be cut off.”

[7:6]  ³ tn Heb “rises up against.”

[7:6]  ⁴ tn Heb “the enemies of a man are the men of his house.”

[7:8]  ⁵ tn The singular form is understood as collective.

[7:8]  ⁶ tn Or “rejoice” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); NCV “don’t laugh at me.”

[7:8]  ⁷ sn Darkness represents judgment; light (also in v. 9) symbolizes deliverance. The Lord is the source of the latter.

[7:10]  ⁸ tn Heb “who say.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:10]  ⁹ tn Heb “My eyes will look on them.”

[7:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a trampled-down place.”

[2:8]  ¹¹ tc Heb “Recently my people rise up as an enemy.” The MT is problematic in light of v. 9, where “my people” are the object of oppression, not the perpetrators of it. The form וְאֶתְמוּל (vÿ’etmul, “and recently”) is probably the product of fusion and subsequent suppression of an (ע) ayin. The translation assumes an emendation to וְאַתֶּם עַל (vÿ’attem ’al, “and you against [my people]”). The second person plural pronoun fits well with the second plural verb forms of vv. 8b-10. If this emendation is accepted, then יְקוֹמֵם (yÿqomem, the imperfect of קוּם [qum]) should be emended to קָמִים (qamim; a participle from the same root).

[2:8]  ¹² tc Heb “From the front of a garment glory [or perhaps, “a robe”] you strip off,” but this makes little if any sense. The term מִמּוּל (mimmul, “from the front of”) is probably the product of dittography (note the preceding word, which ends in [ם] mem) and subsequent suppression of ע (ayin). The translation assumes an emendation to מֵעַל (me’al, “from upon”). The translation also assumes an emendation of שַׂלְמָה אֶדֶר (salmah ’eder, “a garment, glory [or robe]”) to שֹׁלְמִים אֲדֶרֶת (sholÿmim ’aderet, “[from] a friend the robe [you strip off]”). The MT’s אֶדֶר (’eder) is the result of misdivision (the article has erroneously been attached to the preceding word) and haplography (of the final tav, which also begins the following word).

[2:8]  ¹³ tc The passive participle שׁוּבֵי (shuvey) is unattested elsewhere and should be emended to a participle שָׁבִים (shavim).

[2:8]  tn Heb “from those passing by peacefully, returnees from war.” Actual refugees, however, are probably not in view. The second line compares those who pass by peacefully with individuals returning from war. The battle is over and they do not expect their own countrymen to attack them.

[4:10]  ¹⁴ tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”

[4:10]  ¹⁵ tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[4:10]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.