Mikha 7:15

7:15 “As in the days when you departed from the land of Egypt,

I will show you ¹  miraculous deeds.” ² 

Mikha 6:1

The Lord Demands Justice, not Ritual

6:1 Listen to what the Lord says:

“Get up! Defend yourself ³  before the mountains! ⁴ 

Present your case before the hills!” ⁵ 

Mikha 7:14

7:14 Shepherd your people with your shepherd’s rod, ⁶ 

the flock that belongs to you, ⁷ 

the one that lives alone in a thicket,

in the midst of a pastureland. ⁸ 

Allow them to graze in Bashan and Gilead, ⁹ 

as they did in the old days. ¹⁰ 

Mikha 7:6

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

a daughter challenges ¹¹  her mother,

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

a man’s enemies are his own servants. ¹² 

Mikha 7:18

7:18 There is no other God like you! ¹³ 

You ¹⁴  forgive sin

and pardon ¹⁵  the rebellion

of those who remain among your people. ¹⁶ 

You do not remain angry forever, ¹⁷ 

but delight in showing loyal love.

Mikha 7:17

7:17 They will lick the dust like a snake,

like serpents crawling on the ground. ¹⁸ 

They will come trembling from their strongholds

to the Lord our God; ¹⁹ 

they will be terrified ²⁰  of you. ²¹ 

[7:15]  ¹ tn Heb “him.” This probably refers to Israel in a collective sense. Because the switch from direct address to the third person is awkward, some prefer to emend the suffix to a second person form. In any case, it is necessary to employ a second person pronoun in the translation to maintain the connection for the English reader.

[7:15]  ² sn I will show you miraculous deeds. In this verse the Lord responds to the petition of v. 14 with a brief promise of deliverance.

[6:1]  ³ tn Or “plead your case” (NASB, NIV, NRSV); NAB “present your plea”; NLT “state your case.”

[6:1]  sn Defend yourself. The Lord challenges Israel to defend itself against the charges he is bringing.

[6:1]  ⁴ sn As in some ancient Near Eastern treaties, the mountains are personified as legal witnesses that will settle the dispute between God and Israel.

[6:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “let the hills hear your voice.”

[7:14]  ⁶ tn Or “with your scepter” (the Hebrew term can mean either “rod” or “scepter”).

[7:14]  ⁷ tn Heb “the flock of your inheritance.”

[7:14]  ⁸ tn Or “in the midst of Carmel.” The Hebrew term translated “pastureland” may be a place name.

[7:14]  sn The point seems to be that Israel is in a vulnerable position, like sheep in a thicket populated by predators, while rich pastureland (their homeland and God’s blessings) is in view.

[7:14]  ⁹ sn The regions of Bashan and Gilead, located in Transjordan, were noted for their rich grazing lands.

[7:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “as in the days of antiquity.”

[7:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “rises up against.”

[7:6]  ¹² tn Heb “the enemies of a man are the men of his house.”

[7:18]  ¹³ tn Heb “Who is a God like you?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one!”

[7:18]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “one who.” The prayer moves from direct address (second person) in v. 18a to a descriptive (third person) style in vv. 18b-19a and then back to direct address (second person) in vv. 19b-20. Due to considerations of English style and the unfamiliarity of the modern reader with alternation of persons in Hebrew poetry, the entire section has been rendered as direct address (second person) in the translation.

[7:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “pass over.”

[7:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”

[7:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “he does not keep hold of his anger forever.”

[7:17]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “like crawling things on the ground.” The parallelism suggests snakes are in view.

[7:17]  ¹⁹ tn Thetranslationassumesthatthe phrase אֶל־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ (’el-yÿhvah ’elohenu, “to the Lord our God”) goes with what precedes. Another option is to take the phrase with the following verb, in which case one could translate, “to the Lord our God they will turn in dread.”

[7:17]  ²⁰ tn Heb “they will be in dread and afraid.”

[7:17]  ²¹ tn The Lord is addressed directly using the second person.