Verse 9 contains difficulties both in text and in order. The question of order affects especially the line that comes in the middle of the verse in Revised Standard Version, “and it is sound wisdom to fear thy name.” Most scholars believe that this line is a later scribe’s comment that has become incorporated into the text. It certainly disturbs the flow of the sense through the verse. Some modern translations omit it altogether (Moffatt, Jerusalem Bible), but there is no need to be quite as severe as this. Good News Translation makes the flow of meaning easier by placing this line at the beginning of the verse. This allows the more closely linked sentences before and after it to stand together. This reordering is only a point of translation procedure and does not depend on any reordering of the Hebrew text. The sentence It is wise to fear the LORD thus stands a little apart from the main body of the section. Note that in the literal form “thy name” (Revised Standard Version), the name is understood to stand for the person, and Good News Translation makes this explicit by saying the LORD.

In some languages it may be necessary to restructure this line. One possibility is “If a person is wise, he will fear the Lord.” The person who fears the Lord is a person who knows the good way to act. Fear may include the idea of being afraid of, but its main meaning is to have great respect or reverence for, as a child might have toward its parents. In the Hebrew this sentence seems to be spoken directly to God, but Good News Translation has made it simply a statement. It can be translated as direct speech by showing clearly who is spoken to: “Lord, it is wise (for a person) to have reverence for you.”

The clause that opens the verse in Revised Standard Version, “The voice of the LORD cries to the city,” contains a figurative use of “voice,” which here stands for the Lord himself. Some translators may be able to retain this figurative expression, but many will need to follow the example of Good News Translation and state in plain language that it is the Lord who calls to the city. (Since the Lord has already been mentioned by name in the previous sentence, Good News Translation does not repeat the name but refers to him here with the pronoun He.) The city is generally understood to be Jerusalem, and some translators may think it best to make that explicit here. As is clear in the next line, it is the people of the city that the Lord is speaking to, and some translators may also need to make this explicit and say “He calls to the people of Jerusalem.”

In the last clause the Lord begins his direct address to the people. This part of the verse is the one that presents textual problems. The Hebrew text is practically unintelligible, but it is followed literally by King James Version and even by the recent New International Version. New International Version has “Heed the rod and the One who appointed it.” It is hard to see what this is supposed to mean. The large majority of modern translations (Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, Moffatt, Good News Translation) and commentaries differ from this interpretation in three ways. First, they take the word translated “rod” in New International Version to mean “tribe” instead. In other passages, this Hebrew word sometimes means “rod” and sometimes means “tribe.” Second, they divide the Hebrew text so as to include the first word of verse 10 with verse 9. Third, they change three consonants in the Hebrew that a scribe could easily have copied wrongly. The meaning of their revised text is “tribe and assembly of the city” (Revised Standard Version). The term “assembly” may refer to a formal gathering, but this is not certain. The two nouns “tribe” and “assembly” together stand for the people, and Good News Translation expresses this in more natural English as you people who assemble in the city. The word assemble may suggest that not all the people addressed actually lived in the city. This may in fact be one reason why the word “tribe” is used, to refer to the people of the tribe of Judah, whether they were citizens of Jerusalem itself or not. Even if they lived in smaller towns or villages outside of Jerusalem, they would gather or assemble in Jerusalem for important occasions.

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 .