In verses 13 and 14 the Lord condemns the objects used in pagan worship. Three specific types of object are mentioned, idols and sacred stone pillars in verse 13, and images of the goddess Asherah in verse 14. Idols were images carved out of wood or stone. Their use was forbidden in the Ten Commandments (Exo 20.4). Sacred stone pillars were frequently used in Canaanite fertility religion to represent the male deity, and images of the goddess Asherah were wooden poles that represented the female deity.

The people of Israel had been told to break down the pillars (Exo 23.24) and to cut down the images of Asherah (Exo 34.13), but they had never destroyed all of them. These objects were not only symbols used in pagan worship, but they also showed that the people of Israel had rejected their own God. In order to make the nation pure again it was necessary to remove all such evil things. Since the people had not done so, the Lord says that he himself will do it. It is unlikely, of course that many languages will have terms that exactly fit all of these different kinds of idols, but translators should at least be able to describe them as images, stone pillars, and wooden poles that the pagan peoples worshiped.

Sacred is merely a word that shows that the people considered their idols to have spiritual significance or power. The fact that the pagan people worshiped these idols shows why God was angry about them.

These items are only things that you yourselves have made (“the work of your hands” Revised Standard Version). It is therefore ridiculous for the people to worship such things. Accordingly the Lord will no longer permit the people to worship them. Worship can be translated by such expressions as “to pray to,” “to bow down to,” “to serve,” “to honor,” or “to respect as someone very great.”

At the end of verse 14 the Lord says again that he will destroy your cities (Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version). The repetition of cities, which was already mentioned in verse 11, may be a way of rounding off the list. However, some translations such as Jerusalem Bible, Moffatt, and Phillips translate as “images” or “idols.” This meaning is obtained either by making a change of one letter in the Hebrew text from ʿareka to tsireka (as suggested by, for instance, Deissler), or else by supposing that Hebrew had a word identical in form with the word for city, but bearing the meaning “idol” (Allen). This meaning fits better with the rest of verses 13 and 14.

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 .