In verse 11 Micah sums up his accusations. The leaders of the nation, both the secular rulers and the religious priests and prophets, are all corrupt and have more interest in growing rich than in doing their jobs properly. Their corruption is all the worse because it is hidden behind an appearance of piety.
In more detail, the rulers used their position especially in the courts as a means of obtaining bribes (compare Isa 1.23; 5.23; Micah 7.3). If a language does not have a word for bribes, it is probably enough to say “for pay,” as long as the context makes it clear that this is a situation where pay should not be allowed to influence their decisions.
The main thing these leaders are accused of doing here is of accepting bribes to “give judgment” (Revised Standard Version) in the courts, Many translators will have difficulty trying to translate Good News Translation‘s govern, since this is something the leaders do anyway, whether they are paid or not. One may translate as “Rulers are making decisions in favor of the people who can pay them the most.”
The priests are mentioned only here in Micah. It was their duty not only to interpret the Law in general, but also to give decisions in the most difficult and delicate legal cases (Deut 17.8-13). They too were using these occasions as opportunities to increase their pay, and in this way they were allowing justice to be denied to the poor.
One of the key elements of the word priest is that he is a person with a clearly defined role in the religious system, and this is important in this passage. Translators often choose terms that refer to priests as the ones who offer the people’s sacrifices or make the people’s prayers, and if this type of term is well known, it is quite correct to use it here, even though the context is not talking about such duties. In this verse it may even be possible to simply call the priests the “religious leaders.” What these priests do for pay can be translated as “give decisions (or, rulings) about the Law (or, based on the Law).”
The prophets, as stated more fully in verse 5 above, do not give their revelations impartially to all, but only in return for money. As the recurrence of the term “divine” in Revised Standard Version indicates, the Hebrew word here is the same as that used in verses 6 and 7 above, and implies pagan forms of prediction. Give their revelations in Good News Translation means that the prophets claim to have received revelations from God but will only tell the people what these are when the people pay them. It can be expressed as “tell the revelations they have received” or “tell what God has shown them.”
All three groups overlook the sinful nature of their behavior and try to reassure themselves by the outward performance of religious rituals. The Hebrew expresses this in a metaphor, “they lean upon the LORD” (Revised Standard Version), which can no doubt be meaningfully retained in many languages. In languages where it cannot, translators can follow the plain meaning, given in Good News Translation, they all claim that the LORD is with them. Another way to understand the metaphor is “they all believe that the Lord will help them.” This line is not merely a statement of fact. It is assumed that the reader will realize that the Lord will not be with people who behave in these ways, and it may be that this will be obvious to readers in most languages. If it is not obvious, the translator may add something to explain it, such as “they mistakenly believe that the Lord will help them” or “they claim he is with them, but he is not.”
The last part of the verse gives the direct words of these leaders. The first sentence of the quotation in Hebrew, as in Revised Standard Version, is a rhetorical question expecting the answer “Yes.” In languages where such a construction is not natural, the meaning can be expressed as a positive statement, as in Good News Translation “The LORD is with us.” Because of this false confidence the leaders wrongly believed that “No harm will come to us.”
Good News Translation has translated the leaders’ words so that the second sentence gives the reason, while the first sentence gives the result. In Hebrew, the reason is stated first and the result second. In this way Good News Translation reverses the Hebrew order, though the logical relationship is not altered. Translators should follow the natural patterns of the receptor language in deciding whether the reason or the result is to be stated first. It will often be helpful to make the logical relationship explicit by means of conjunctions or other particles. One may thus say “No harm will come to us because the Lord is with us,” or “The Lord is with us, and therefore no harm will come to us.”
The expression No harm will come to us probably became a popular saying among the people, as Jeremiah accused them of saying the same thing a century later (Jer 5.12). The Hebrew word translated harm in this verse is the same as the word translated disaster in Micah 2.3. In 2.3 the Lord says specifically that he is going to bring disaster on the people, whereas in 3.11 the people deny that disaster can come on them. There is something to be said for using the same word in the receptor language in both verses, since it may help to emphasize to careful readers just how foolish these leaders are (Revised Standard Version and New American Bible use “evil” in both verses, and New English Bible and New International Version use “disaster”).
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 .