There is a break in sense in the middle of this verse. The first half continues and completes the description of the evil of the time, while the second half begins an announcement of punishment. Good News Translation marks this change of topic by beginning a new paragraph in the middle of the verse, and many translators will wish to do the same.
The first half of the verse is expressed in Hebrew in two parallel clauses, as Revised Standard Version shows. As in many other places, Good News Translation combines the two parallel clauses into one and says Even the best and most honest people are as worthless as weeds. In Hebrew two specific plants, “briers” and “thorns,” are mentioned (compare Revised Standard Version). These may be retained if they are well known as a nuisance to farmers. If they are not known, or if they are considered useful for some purpose, it may be better to translate with a more general expression like Good News Translation‘s as worthless as weeds. Weeds are not particular types of plant but rather any plant that is not wanted. In some languages, particular plants may be commonly referred to as symbols of uselessness, and an expression of this kind will probably fit well in this context. However, translators should not introduce the names of plants significantly different from plants known in Judah in the eighth century B.C.
In some languages it may be difficult to compare good, honest people with something worthless. This is irony, or sarcasm, and when the prophet says they are good and honest, he does not really mean it.
The point is that if the best of the people are worthless, then all the others are really terrible. Many languages may be able to find a way to make this point with sarcasm, but it may be necessary to change the wording slightly. If it seems impossible to use sarcasm, then a translator can just say something like “some of them are as worthless as briers and thorns, and the rest of them are even worse.”
In the second half of the verse the Hebrew has second person singular possessives (“your,” New American Bible, New International Version; “thy, thine,” New English Bible). Since it is not clear to whom these possessives refer, a number of modern versions and commentators have changed them to third person plural to match the context (Revised Standard Version, Bible de Jérusalem, Jerusalem Bible, Good News Translation, Moffatt, Smith, Mays). But even then the Hebrew text is very condensed, as Revised Standard Version shows. Therefore Good News Translation fills it out by making explicit the relationships that are to be understood between the different clauses. “The day … of their punishment has come” (Revised Standard Version) is taken as the main statement, and Good News Translation makes explicit who will do the punishing: The day has come when God will punish the people. Day can be translated more generally as “time” if this sounds better. The people refers if course to the people just mentioned in the preceding lines, and a translator may need to say “these people.”
The “watchmen” of Revised Standard Version are further identified as the prophets in Good News Translation, and Good News Translation also tells what the prophets did: as he warned them through their watchmen, the prophets. (The British edition of Good News Translation omits the words their watchmen, but they should be included.) The punishment will be as foretold and not something unexpected. The prophets are called watchmen because they are supposed to see trouble coming on the people and to warn them about it so that they can change their evil ways and be saved (see Jer 6.17; Ezek 3.17; Hos 9.8). Another way of expressing this idea may be “The prophets warned them that God would do this, just as watchmen warn people that their enemy is coming.”
As a result of this punishment, the people will be in confusion. This probably suggests the confusion arising from a military defeat (compare Isa 22.5, the only other place where the same word occurs). A translator should use a word that suggests that the people have no idea what they should do.
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 .