This verse begins the actual words of the Lord, so Good News Translation has added the words The LORD says to make this clear. The Lord opens his case, but instead of a series of accusations, he starts with questions that are defensive in nature. It is as though Israel were accusing the Lord rather than the other way round. The assumption is that the people by their conduct have already acted as though the Lord had not kept his side of the covenant. Therefore he asks his questions, My people, what have I done to you? How have I been a burden to you? to demand an explanation of their apparent grievances. To be a burden is literally “to weary” or “to make someone tired.” It can be translated as “to give trouble to” or “to make someone’s life difficult or heavy.”

The questions are followed by the command Answer me, but the people give no answer. (Compare the German common language translation [Die Bibel im heutigen Deutsch], “Why do you not answer?”) The implication is that, since the people really have nothing to complain about, they cannot answer, and so their behavior is not justified. Once this point has been made, the way is open for the Lord to state how he has kept his side of the covenant and blessed his people. This makes the people’s failure to serve the Lord stand out very clearly, and thus the whole paragraph (verses 3-5) amounts to an indirect but very effective accusation.

In other places, sentences that are questions in Hebrew can often be replaced by statements that convey the same meaning. However, in this passage such a procedure is unlikely to work. Here the questions are real questions, not merely rhetorical ones, and the absence of any answer to them is part of the logical development of the paragraph. If this form of argument will not be clear in the receptor language, it may be helpful to include a sentence at the end of verse 3 to the effect that “you cannot answer me.” Verse 4 can then begin with some expression of strong contrast such as “Far from being a burden to you, I have helped you (or, done only good to you). I brought you out of Egypt….”

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 .