The location of Shaphir is not known, and the play on this name has also been lost. Some scholars want to restore the pun by emending the text to include the Hebrew word shophar, “ram’s horn trumpet.” Thus the beginning of the verse is translated “Sound the horn, you who live in Shaphir” in Jerusalem Bible. Since the pun cannot be translated, it is safer to follow the Hebrew text as it stands, as Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version do. The command to “Pass on your way” (Revised Standard Version) is to be understood as a reference to going into exile, as Good News Translation makes clear.
The prophet here once again names the people he is talking to: You people of Shaphir. Go into exile means to be taken away by their enemies to live in a foreign land. It may be translated as “You will go away with our enemies, as their prisoners” or as “Our enemies will force you to leave your homes.” This is actually a command in Hebrew, but what the prophet means is that these people will be forced to go into exile. He is not telling them that they should do this. The use of the command here suggests that it is something that is already happening, and in this way it makes the picture more vivid.
The people are going into exile naked and ashamed. Nakedness was commonly associated with shame in Hebrew culture (see Gen 2.25; 3.7-11; 1 Chr 19.4-5; Isa 20.4; Nahum 3.5). Naked here means completely naked, with no clothes on at all. They are ashamed because everyone can see them naked, as well as for the more basic reason that they have been defeated by their enemies. These two words describe the way they look and feel as they go into exile. In some languages it may be necessary to describe this before the idea of going to exile: “Our enemies will strip you naked (or, force you to strip naked), and you will be ashamed, and they will force you to go away into exile like this.” It is possible that the words “naked and ashamed” go with the next line, Those who live in Zaanan. New English Bible takes them this way, but the sense of the verse has a better balance if the punctuation of the Masoretic text is followed, as in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation.
Zaanan is perhaps the same place as the Zenan mentioned in Josh 15.37. Two of the Hebrew consonants in this name also occur in the word for come out and thus form the pun in this sentence. In saying that the inhabitants do not dare to come out of their city, Micah probably means that the city is under siege by the enemy.
Here Micah does not actually speak directly to Those who live in Zaanan but simply describes them. If they cannot come out, this may be the reason he does not actually address them. The Hebrew simply says that they do not come out. Good News Translation has added do not dare, suggesting that they are afraid of what the enemies will do to them if they come out. It is also possible to understand this as meaning that they cannot escape from the enemies. Both of these meanings suggest that this town must have had walls around it, so that they had some protection from the enemies.
In the third section of the verse, Bethezel is unknown and no pun can be noticed. In fact it is difficult to make any sense at all of this sentence, as the literal translation of Revised Standard Version shows. Jerusalem Bible assumes that “standing place” is to be taken in its plain meaning, and translates accordingly: “Bethezel is torn from its foundations, from its strong supports.” New English Bible and Good News Translation both take “standing place” figuratively but in different ways. New English Bible “she can lend you support no longer” seems to refer to military strength (compare New International Version). Good News Translation, on the other hand, takes “standing place” as a place where one can stand or stop fleeing, that is, a place of refuge.
The wide differences between the modern versions indicate the difficulties. Almost certainly the text we have today is not what was originally written, but no suggestions for restoring the original have gained general agreement among scholars.
Whatever the prophet is saying about Bethezel, he is saying it to some group of people whom he calls you. It is probably addressed to the people of Judah in general, the same group we assumed he was speaking to at the beginning of verse 10. It is also possible that it is addressed to the people of Shaphir (and perhaps the people of Zaanan), since they were mentioned most recently.
The people of Bethezel are mourning or wailing, making a loud noise to show their sorrow, presumably because of what the enemies have done to them. Because of what has happened to Bethezel there is no refuge there, if we take the understanding of Good News Translation. This means that the people that Micah is speaking to cannot go to Bethezel to be safe from the enemies. Good News Translation connects the two parts of the sentence by saying When you hear them wailing, you will know that Bethezel is not a place to hide. There could be other ways of connecting these two ideas, such as “the wailing of the people shows you that there is no refuge there.”
If the translator prefers to follow the New English Bible interpretation, “she can lend you support no longer,” this means “you cannot expect the people of Bethezel to come and help you when you are fighting the enemy.”
Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. et al. A Handbook on Micah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1982, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .