This verse is numbered 4.14 in Hebrew; Good News Translation takes it as going with the verses that precede it, since it takes up again the theme of Jerusalem under attack, from 4.9-10. If the translator thinks that this verse fits better with 5.2-4, as in Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, and New International Version, then it has to be seen as establishing a contrast between Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Jerusalem is the capital city, but with a weak ruler it is helpless under siege. On the other hand, the nearby but relatively unimportant Bethlehem will be the birthplace of a strong leader who will rescue his people and rule over them with God’s power.

The meaning of the first part of the verse is very uncertain. The Hebrew text as we have it contains a root gadad, whose meaning in this passage is generally understood to be “gather together, gather in troops.” This meaning is found in King James Version and is also followed by Good News Translation and New International Version. It occurs also in Jer 5.7, where Revised Standard Version translates “they … trooped to the house of harlots.” The same root gadad can also mean “to cut, to make incisions,” and some translators such as Moffatt, New Jerusalem Bible, and Traduction œcuménique de la Bible understand the word in this sense here. Moffatt translates “gash yourself in grief.” The word has this meaning also elsewhere, as in 1 Kgs 18.28, where Revised Standard Version has “they … cut themselves,” but here it would be necessary to make two small changes in the Hebrew text in order to produce a form of the verb that would be in the right tense to carry this meaning.

A further complication arises from the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation of the Old Testament. What these translators put in this verse is not a translation of the Hebrew root gadad, but of another Hebrew root, gadar. The letters d and r are very similar in Hebrew script, and it is not unusual for them to be confused. The root gadar means “to build a wall” and is found for instance in Ezek 13.5, where Revised Standard Version has “You have not … built up a wall for the house of Israel.” Here in Micah 5.1 Revised Standard Version follows the Greek rather than the Hebrew, and Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, and New English Bible do the same.

All three possible ways of understanding the verse can make sense in the context, and the choice is a difficult one for the translator. The choice that reads gadad in the meaning of “cut” seems the least likely, although to cut oneself as a sign of grief is a possible activity during a siege. However, this practice was a heathen one, and the Israelites were forbidden to follow it (Lev 19.28; 21.5; Deut 14.1), so it seems improbable that the prophet here would urge them to do so. However, it is possible to take the verb either as an imperative or as a statement. So it may be that prophet is simply describing what people are doing in this time of great danger, rather than urging them to do it. It might be “now you are cutting yourselves in grief.”

Both of the other two possibilities fit the context quite well. Revised Standard Version “you are walled about with a wall” is a specific statement that is immediately followed by the explanation in more general terms, “siege is laid against us.” In ancient sieges it was not uncommon for the attackers to build a wall right around the city they were besieging, both to cut off its communications and to protect their own troops.

Good News Translation with its gather your forces! speaks of the defenders’ preparation to resist attack. We are besieged! is a cry of warning the forces in order to call them together. The vocative People of Jerusalem gives the plain meaning of the Hebrew, which is a further reference to Jerusalem as a woman. It is translated literally in King James Version, “O daughter of troops.”

The last part of the verse is clearer. Revised Standard Version gives the literal meaning, “with a rod they strike upon the cheek the ruler of Israel.” This seems to imply that the enemies have already defeated and captured the city and its leaders.

Good News Translation They are attacking the leader of Israel is much more vague. It is hard to see why the specific details of Revised Standard Version have been replaced by this general statement. Most translators will be able to follow the Hebrew more closely here and mention the exact details as Revised Standard Version does. To “strike” someone “upon the cheek” (Revised Standard Version) seems to have been a symbolic way of humiliating him (see 1 Kgs 22.24; Job 16.10; Lam 3.30). To do this with a “rod” (Revised Standard Version) or stick would be painful as well as shameful. Therefore, if we assume that the enemies have already captured the ruler, they must have been treating him like this as a cruel way of making fun of him. On the other hand, it is perhaps possible that this expression is not meant literally, but that the attack on the city itself is in some way seen as shaming the ruler, and the reference to striking him is only a figure of speech.

There is a similarity in the sounds of the Hebrew between the word shebet (“rod”) and shophet (“ruler”). It is not likely, of course, that this can be reproduced in translation, but if a translator can do so while still keeping the meaning accurate, that will be good.

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 .