Because the town of Bethlehem is addressed in the second person singular in verse 2, Good News Translation treats the verse as a direct quotation and identifies the speaker as The LORD. In some languages it may not make sense to address a town as though it were a person. In such cases a translator may need to express the whole verse in indirect speech and in the third person: “The Lord says that though Bethlehem Ephrathah is only one of the smallest towns in Judah, yet out of it he will bring a ruler for Israel….”
Bethlehem is a town about nine kilometers (six miles) south of Jerusalem. It is important in this context because it was the place which the family of King David came from (1 Sam 16.1-13). Later generations looked back to the reigns of King David and his son King Solomon as a golden age. So when the prophets began to speak of an ideal king who would come to restore God’s people and rule over them, they often expressed their messages in terms drawn from the days of David, or in terms associated with him. It is in keeping with this way of thinking that Micah sees Bethlehem, David’s home, as the town from which the ideal king will come.
Ephrathah is a term added perhaps to distinguish David’s Bethlehem from other towns or villages bearing the same name. Probably Ephrathah is a name for the district in which Bethlehem was located. It comes from the name of Ephrath, one of the clans that made up the tribe of Judah (Ruth 1.2). David’s family were members of this clan (1 Sam 17.12). It is probably best to translate Bethlehem Ephrathah as the name of the town. If this seems too long for a name in some languages, then it is all right to translate as “Bethlehem in the region (or, district) of Ephrathah” (see New English Bible).
The Hebrew word translated “clans” in Revised Standard Version is a word with a very wide area of meaning. It is the numeral for “a thousand” and is also a term for a military unit consisting of a certain number of soldiers, probably considerably less than a thousand. Here it refers to a social unit, the clan. This is why Revised Standard Version translates “little to be among the clans of Judah.” But by a figure of speech called metonymy, the clan in this context stands for the town where the clan members lived. So Good News Translation drops the figure of speech and gives the plain meaning, you are one of the smallest towns in Judah. Smallest probably refers both to size and to importance.
Some translators understand the Hebrew here to say that Bethlehem is so small that it does not deserve to be considered as one of the clans of Judah (this seems to be the meaning of Revised Standard Version and New English Bible, among others). This is, of course, only an emphatic way of stating how unimportant the town is, and the plain meaning is still what Good News Translation has. However, in some languages it may be quite effective to use the more emphatic way of expressing the idea. In some languages it may be very difficult to talk about “one of the smallest towns,” and some similar expression may be used to give the same meaning, such as “a very small town.”
However, though the town was insignificant in itself, this was no barrier to God. Out of it he would in the future bring a ruler for Israel, just as he had once brought David. Translators may need to use different ways of showing the contrast between the small town and the great ruler to come from it. Some languages may use a word like but or “however.” In other languages it may be better to say something like “even though you are small.” Out of you or “from you” (Revised Standard Version) means that the ruler will be one of the citizens of Bethlehem, but that God will bring him from Bethlehem to be the ruler, as he brought David.
Revised Standard Version says that the ruler will “come forth for me.” This “for me” refers of course to God and means that the ruler will be acting in accordance with God’s will. Good News Translation felt that is was clearer to state plainly that God was the one who caused this to happen: I will bring a ruler. Some translations may prefer to say something like “a ruler who will act on my behalf” or “a ruler who will truly obey me.” It is possible that the term ruler is used here in order to avoid the usual word for king, since the people of Micah’s day were disillusioned with the kings whom they knew. If a language has one word for “king” and a different word such a “ruler” that can also refer to the king, it may be good to use the second word here. But in many languages this may not be possible, and if not, the usual word for king is acceptable.
The family line of this ruler is described in two phrases in Revised Standard Version. It is “from of old” and “from ancient days.” Good News Translation puts these two phrases together and says that the family line goes back to ancient times. This is to be understood as a description of the family of David. By Micah’s time there had been kings of Judah for about 300 years, and all of them had been descendants of David. (The older translation, “from everlasting” of King James Version and Revised Version [rv], is improbable in this context.) Micah thus implies that the ideal ruler who was to come was also to be a member of David’s family.
All of the concepts in Good News Translation‘s last clause could be difficult for some translators. Family line refers to the long line of ancestors from whom the ruler is descended. Goes back suggests that this line is being traced back from the present into the past. Ancient times means simply “long ago,” or more precisely, “from the early history of the country.” In other languages it may be necessary to look at these ideas from quite a different point of view. For example, this could be expressed as “he will be descended from men who were famous in the earliest days of the country” or “long ago his ancestor was an important man.” It is of course true that everyone’s family line goes back to ancient times. What is meant here is that these ancestors are people whose names are still remembered, and this suggests that they were famous or important people.
This verse is quoted in Matt 2.6, but translators who have already finished Matthew should note that there are a number of differences between the Old Testament verse and the New Testament quotation. One should not try to make them more alike than they really are.
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 .