Verses 7-9 speak of the effect the survivors of Israel will have on the nations among whom they live. As in the previous verses, there are a number of problems in knowing exactly what is meant, especially in verse 7. Revised Standard Version is a literal translation of the Hebrew and is thus the best starting point for a discussion of the difficulties.

The expression “remnant of Jacob” in verse 7 uses the same word for “remnant” as that in 4.7 (see the discussion of that verse). This remnant probably consists of those who were taken into exile in foreign countries, as in 4.7. This fits well with the description here of the remnant being “in the midst of many peoples.” “Jacob” here probably stands for the whole nation of Israel and Judah, and not just those taken into captivity from the northern kingdom when Samaria fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C. Good News Translation understands the phrase in this wider sense and thus translates The people of Israel who survive. This wording could be misleading, however, and translators should be careful here. Because it has moved the reference to many nations to a point later in the verse, Good News Translation could be taken as referring to the people who were left in the land after the others had been carried into exile. Further, Good News Translation does not state what disaster the people have survived, nor is this made clear in the wider context. In many languages it may be necessary to make the meaning clearer and say something like “The people of Israel who have been defeated and exiled from their country will be living in many other countries. These people will be like refreshing dew….”

There follows a double simile, or comparison, in which the people are compared to “dew from the LORD” and “showers upon the grass.” In Palestine there is little rainfall in most areas, and the dew that forms on the ground, especially in the rainless summer months, is important in helping the crops to survive in the hot weather and ripen as they should. In ancient times people knew the importance of the dew supply, but they did not understand how dew was formed. (This is one of the things that the Lord challenged Job to explain in Job 38.28.) Its presence was therefore surrounded by mystery, and it was regarded as a gift from the Lord (Gen 27.28; Deut 33.28). Dew was used as a symbol of refreshment (Hos 14.5) and even of resurrection (Isa 26.19). However, it was also used as a picture of silent and stealthy approach, as of a soldier creeping up on an enemy (2 Sam 17.12). In the present context, the idea of dew is joined with the idea of “showers,” which suggests a picture of refreshment. This understanding is made explicit in Good News Translation, with its like refreshing dew sent by the LORD … like showers on growing plants. The difficulty with this understanding is that the picture it gives of the effect of Israel on the nations is very different from the picture in verse 8 (see the discussion of verse 8 below).

There is a further difficulty in verse 7, however. The two relative clauses at the end of the verse, “which tarry not for men nor wait for the sons of men” (Revised Standard Version), are parallel to each other and are clearly a double statement with a single meaning. But it is hard to know which noun these clauses describe. In Hebrew the verbs in the relative clauses are singular, and the clauses could thus describe any of the singular nouns in the earlier part of the sentence, namely “grass,” “dew,” or even “remnant.” The word “remnant” is the most distant but is taken as the antecedent of the verb in Jerusalem Bible. Knox seems to take “grass” as the antecedent, while Revised Standard Version, New American Bible, New English Bible, New International Version, and Phillips take “dew,” and Moffatt is ambiguous. The surface meaning of the relative clauses does little to help in making a decision. Neither “dew” nor “grass” can be said to wait for men in any literal sense, but probably a better figurative sense is obtained if the relative clauses are understood to refer to the dew. Dew was recognized as a direct gift of God which man could do nothing to provide for himself, and the description here is probably an allusion to this. Revised Standard Version accepts this understanding but departs from the strict grammar of the Hebrew by making the verbs in the relative clauses plural and applying the clauses to both “dew” and “showers.” All the other versions that follow this interpretation do the same. This is justifiable because it does not change the basic meaning and makes for a smoother sentence in English. Good News Translation, in an effort to avoid both the grammatical ambiguity and the figurative expression, does not use relative clauses. Instead, in a separate sentence it expresses in plain language the meaning they convey by saying They will depend on God, not man. Grammatically this sentence refers back to The people of Israel who survive. Presumably Good News Translation also understood the relative clauses to refer to the dew and the showers. But since the dew and showers are only figures used to make a point about the people, Good News Translation has simply applied this point directly to the people. In this way Good News Translation gives a fairly clear meaning to this complicated verse. This is not the only possible understanding of this verse, as will be seen in the discussion of verse 8. However, it will be best to deal with the translation of verse 7 at this point, based on the meaning given by Good News Translation.

In order to show that the dew and showers are to be understood as helpful, Good News Translation says refreshing dew and growing plants. It may be possible to combine these ideas and say “dew and rain that God sends on plants to help them to grow well.” In areas of the world that have plenty of rain, people sometimes feel that it is pointless to mention the dew. They feel that the dew itself is so insignificant that it can hardly be said to help plants grow. As has been mentioned, this was not the case in the land of Israel.

The main idea of this verse seems to be that the people of Israel are in some way helping the nations among whom they live, although this point is not completely clear in Good News Translation. There is also the point that this work is not done by men alone but is the work of God himself. The meaning may be clearer if these two points of comparison are combined, “they will depend on God, not man, and they will do good to many nations.” They will depend on God could be translated as “God, not man, is the one who commands them” or “… tells them what to do.” Many nations means “the people of many countries.”

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 .