In Revised Standard Version this verse is ambiguous at several points because pronouns are used in the Hebrew, and it is not clear to whom they refer. Good News Translation makes the participants somewhat clearer. The “he” of Revised Standard Version is identified as the LORD in Good News Translation, and the “them” is identified as his people. Good News Translation also says the LORD will abandon his people to their enemies, while Revised Standard Version translates only “give them up,” without mentioning the enemies.
The main focus of the sentence, however, is on the length of time that the Lord will abandon the people. It is not stated exactly how long this will be, but it is given in terms related to a pregnancy—until the woman who is to give birth has her son. It is not clear whether this refers to the normal period of nine months for a pregnancy or to the shorter period during which the woman is actually in labor. It is not important to decide which is more likely. The real point is that the period is limited. A pregnancy may be burdensome for a woman, and the labor may be painful, but both come to an end when the baby is born. In the same way the Lord may abandon his people, but only for a limited time, and then he will help them and make them his own again.
This verse begins with “Therefore” (Revised Standard Version) or So, which may not be clear at first. It seems to refer back to the two contrasting predictions that have just been made. The prophet has said that the people will have to spend time in exile (see 4.10, for example), but he has also said that God plans to bring them back and give them a new ruler. The connection between verses 2 and 3, then, is “God plans to give them a ruler, therefore he will give them up only until the ruler is born.” This may be clearer in many languages if something like the English “only until” is added to show that the time will not be long.
Abandon can be translated as “refuse to help” or “allow the enemies to rule.” Good News Translation does not mention the name of “the people of Israel” here, though it is clearly implied, and some translators may prefer to make this explicit. This can be done by using the full expression at this point in the verse, in place of Good News Translation‘s his people.
The phrase until the woman who is to give birth has her son expresses in modern terms Revised Standard Version‘s “when she who is in travail has brought forth.” Revised Standard Version follows the Hebrew and does not express any object for the verb “brought forth.” Obviously the object is a baby, but Good News Translation goes further and states plainly that it is her son. It is clear from the general background of Hebrew prophetic thought that the one who was to deliver the nation would be a male, and so it is legitimate to make that explicit here. Similar prophecies about the birth of a boy whose life would be important in the history of God’s people come in Isa 7.14 and 9.6, and in both places the word “son” is used.
Micah himself has used the experience of labor pains and birth as a picture of God’s dealings with his people in 4.9-10. But here in 5.3 the picture seems to have a double purpose. Not only is the limited time of pregnancy of labor an indication that God is punishing his people for a limited period, but it also appears that the child born from this labor will be the deliverer of the nation. The prophet is saying that he sees the nation’s suffering as a punishment that carries within itself the hope of deliverance and restoration in the future. The language used is somewhat secretive and mysterious, but this was often the way in which the prophets expressed themselves. Translators can and should clarify grammatical obscurities such as the pronoun references in this verse, but they cannot entirely remove the element of mystery from the language in which the prophets spoke.
The wording of Revised Standard Version (“she who is in travail”) suggests that the woman was already in labor at the time the prophet wrote. Other translations like Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, and Good News Translation seem to suggest rather that God has chosen someone to be the mother of the ruler, but that she was not necessarily pregnant at the time of writing. Many translators may prefer to follow this second meaning, but they may not have a construction like the English who is to give birth, and it may be necessary to restructure this part of the verse. One possibility is “The Lord will abandon his people. But this will last only until the woman goes into labor and delivers her son.”
In the second half of the verse, even Good News Translation has not entirely succeeded in removing the ambiguities of the pronouns. To whom does the his in the phrase his fellow countrymen refer? Grammatically it could refer to the LORD, but the most natural way of understanding Good News Translation would make it refer to her son. However, Hebrew does have this “his,” while neither the LORD nor her son are explicit in the Hebrew. Therefore it is possible that in Hebrew “his” may refer back to the ruler in verse 1, as the ruler was the last male mentioned. It seems probable that this ruler is to be understood as the same person as her son, however, and if this is the case the problem is made easier. So then, when the son who is to be the ruler is born, his fellow countrymen who are in exile will be reunited with their own people.
Fellow countrymen is literally “brothers.” Some translators may prefer to say “the rest of the people of Israel who are in exile,” especially if this can be worded in such a way as to show that the ruler (the woman’s son) is also one of the people of Israel.
The words who are in exile are not explicit in Hebrew but are clearly implied in the verb reunited (Revised Standard Version “return”), which is regularly used to refer to return from exile. For the translation of exile see the comments on 2.13. Reunited could be translated as “join them again.” Their own people refers to those of “the people of Israel” (Revised Standard Version) who were not taken into exile.
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 .