Translation commentary on Micah 3:1 - Mic 3:3

The opening words “And I said” (Revised Standard Version) indicate that this section was probably delivered originally as a sermon. Since it is aimed at the leaders of the nation, it seems likely that it was delivered in Jerusalem, the capital. There it would easily have come to the attention of the king, as Jer 26.18-19 states. Since the prophet is the speaker in Micah 2.13, and the section heading makes it clear that he is still speaking in chapter 3, the words “And I said” are left implicit in Good News Translation. If this makes the opening of the section sound too abrupt in other languages, the words may be retained, and the prophet may be identified by name if necessary.

For Listen, compare 1.2; 6.1.

The Good News Translation expression you rulers of Israel translates two Hebrew phrases that are parallel with each other and synonymous in meaning. Their literal form is seen in Revised Standard Version “you heads of Jacob and rulers of the house of Israel.” These are the people to whom Micah is speaking these words. This comprehensive expression probably includes both judicial and government leaders. Unless some similar double expression is common in the receptor language, it will probably be more natural to follow Good News Translation and combine the two phrases into one. The use of the terms “Jacob” and “Israel” when referring to the leaders of Judah lends support to the dating of this passage after the end of the northern kingdom.

As leaders of God’s people, these rulers of Israel were supposed to be concerned about justice. That is, they were supposed to be familiar with the instructions of the Mosaic Law, and they were responsible for administering them in a way that would encourage people to treat each other fairly. But instead these rulers used their privileged position to advance their own interests. You are supposed to be concerned about justice may be translated as “It is your duty to know what people ought to do” or “It is your responsibility to see that people act justly.” This last line of verse 1 is literally a rhetorical question (see Revised Standard Version), but it carries the same meaning as the strong statement in Good News Translation.

The behavior of these rulers was so different from what God expected that Micah goes so far as to say in verse 2 you hate what is good and you love what is evil. The leaders were thus the exact opposite of what they should have been. In some languages it may be difficult to translate what is good and what is evil. These may be translated as “you hate to do good things (or, to act in a good way) and you love to do evil things (or, to act in evil ways).”

In the rest of verses 2 and 3, Micah strengthens his words with a string of pictures. The pictures are short and quick, like a series of snapshot photographs. It is not certain whether there is one comparison or two at the base of this picture language. There is certainly a picture of a butcher at work on a carcass of meat, skinning it and cutting it up into pieces to be cooked. Some scholars think that the last clause of verse 2, You … tear the flesh off their bones, and the first clause of verse 3, You eat my people up, make more sense as a picture of a wild animal devouring its prey. If this is the case, this second picture comes in the middle of the first one about the butcher. The first picture begins in verse 2 with the words You skin my people alive and continues in verse 3 with You strip off their skin, break their bones, and chop them up like meat for the pot. This apparent awkwardness has led some scholars to change the Hebrew text, either by omitting some phrases or by putting them in a different order. It seems possible, however, to regard this passage as another example of what is called a chiasmus (see the discussion of Micah 1.4). This means that each picture, the butcher and the wild animal, consists of two parts ordered as follows:

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 .

Translation commentary on Micah 5:11

Verse 11 continues on the same theme, with a further threat to destroy the cities in your land and tear down all your defenses. It may be that this verse is really using a double expression to speak of a single object: cities and defenses together may simply mean “fortified cities.” The word translated defenses means any place that has been fortified or strengthened to make it easy to defend against an enemy army. It can refer both to places in the mountains that have been fortified, and to fortified cities.

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 .

Translation commentary on Micah 7:13

This verse gives something of a contrast with the two previous verses. Whereas they spoke of the restoration of Jerusalem and its people, this one speaks of the punishment of the enemy nations. They may have been used as God’s instruments for disciplining his people in the past, but they did this work in such a way as to increase their own sins. Therefore the earth, that is, those parts of it outside the territory of the Lord’s people, will become a desert.

To make clear what is meant here by the earth, many translators may want to say something like “the rest of the earth.”

Desert is literally “desolate” (Revised Standard Version). This means an area that has been destroyed, as if by an invading army. If translators cannot find a suitable term, it is possible to say “The earth will become barren” or “The earth will be spoiled.”

The reason why this will happen is clearly given: because of the wickedness of those who live on it. However, it may be clearer in some languages to say “as punishment for the wickedness of those who live on it.” If it is necessary to say who punishes, the Lord can be mentioned here. In 6.16 Jerusalem was an island of ruin amidst a sea of scornful enemies. Here the picture is reversed, and it is an island of blessing amidst a sea of desolation.

Wickedness is literally “the fruit of their doings” (Revised Standard Version). This metaphor is unnatural in English, and Good News Translation has expressed its meaning in plain language. Many translators will need to do the same.

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 .

Translation commentary on Micah 1:9

In verse 9 the punishment of the people of Samaria is pictured as wounds that cannot be healed. A similar picture is used in Isa 1.5-6. In the expression “her wound” at the beginning of verse 9 (Revised Standard Version), “her” is taken by some commentators to refer to Jerusalem. However, the picture of spreading infection is more clear if the “her” refers to Samaria. This is the way Good News Translation understands it. The wound is the punishment sent by the Lord as described in the preceding verses. In some versions it is translated as a “blow” struck by the Lord (Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible).

This wound cannot be healed. The picture means that the destruction of Samaria is complete, as described in verse 6, and there is no hope for it to be built again or for the people to recover from their punishment.

The “it has come to Judah” of Revised Standard Version continues the metaphor, but in Good News Translation it is expressed in plain language as Judah is about to suffer in the same way. The expression “come to” may be intended to bring to mind the idea of a flood spreading over the land. Compare the use of the same expression in Psa 69.1.

About to suffer in the same way means that the terrible things that have happened to Samaria are about to happen to the southern kingdom of Judah. It may be expressed as “the same punishment is about to happen to Judah.” In fact it sounds as though the enemies are already in Judah, because they have reached the gates of Jerusalem itself. Jerusalem was not geographically in the center of the country. In fact it was near the northern border. However, it was the main town of the country, and if it were captured by the enemy, the whole country would be defeated.

The gates of the city are not only the place of entrance but also the center of business, legal, and social life. See for instance Ruth 4.1, 11; Psa 127.5; Amos 5.10, 12, 15. When Jerusalem is spoken of as “the gate of my people” (Revised Standard Version), this is a picture of the capital city as the center and focus of national life. Gates can be translated as “doors in the wall that surrounds the city.” They were of course strong doors that could be closed to keep the enemy out. When the enemy reached the gates, Jerusalem was in great danger of being conquered. In many languages the word “gate” would not convey the idea of the center of social life, and in such languages it may be necessary to translate as “destruction has reached Jerusalem itself, the main center where my people live.”

Jerusalem was not Micah’s own home town, so his reference to my people does not mean his immediate relatives. It is used in a broader sense, including all of his countrymen, but especially those who were suffering because of all the evil that was being done by the leaders (see 3.3, 5).

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 .

Translation commentary on Micah 4:2

As the people of the nations travel, they speak to each other and give the reason for their journey. This is recorded as direct speech and is formed with pairs of parallel clauses. The first two clauses are not exactly parallel, however. The second clause is an expansion of the latter part of the first, and the verb is left implicit in the second clause. The first clause says Let us go up the hill of the LORD, giving the general direction of the journey. The second makes the destination more precise by adding to the Temple of Israel’s God. For translators who want to have two clauses, such a structure is not usually difficult to translate, though it may sound better in some languages to repeat the verb in the second clause. Other translators may prefer to combine all this information into one clause. The final phrase is literally “the God of Jacob” as in Revised Standard Version. “Jacob” here stands for the whole nation, not just the northern kingdom (which had ended before the time of this passage); it is thus translated Israel in Good News Translation. Note in Revised Standard Version that this speech literally begins “Come, let us go.” This sort of wording may sound very natural in some languages.

The third and fourth clauses of the people’s words are more closely parallel with each other than the first two clauses are. They are complementary, or reciprocal, in meaning. The Lord, on the one hand, will teach us what he wants us to do. The people, on the other hand, will walk in the paths he has chosen, responding completely to what the Lord has taught them. Revised Standard Version shows the literal wording of the Hebrew: “that he may teach us his ways and we may walk in his paths.” In many languages the use of words like “way” and “path” to mean “customs” or “teachings” is quite natural. In such cases there may be no need to express the meaning in plain language, as Good News Translation does when it says what he wants us to do for “his ways.” The paths he has chosen could also be understood as “the paths he has shown us.” If the figurative language of “paths” is not possible in a language, these two clauses may become simply “he will teach us what he wants us to do, and we will do it.”

The last two clauses of verse 2 are also parallel to each other. It is not certain whether they continue the words of the people who are going up to Jerusalem, or are the beginning of a further comment by the prophet. Good News Translation and Jerusalem Bible regard them as part of the direct quotation, while Revised Standard Version, Moffatt, New American Bible, New English Bible, and New International Version do not. The meaning is the same no matter which form of punctuation is chosen. However, the words seem to fit the context better if they are regarded as the last part of the direct quotation, for they then give the reason for the journey to Jerusalem. Jerusalem is the center and source of the LORD’s teaching, and this is why people from other nations go there. The Hebrew word translated teaching is the general word for law. It came to mean in particular the Law or Moses, which was the central and most important part of the LORD’s teaching for the Jews.

The parallel clause (“the word of the LORD from Jerusalem,” as in Revised Standard Version) is expressed in Good News Translation in a verbal rather than a nominal form, and thus it becomes from Zion he speaks to his people. Note that Good News Translation has added the words to his people, to show whom the Lord is speaking to. It may be necessary in some languages to say whom he is speaking to, but some readers might understand his people to refer primarily to the people of Israel. The people referred to in these verses are mainly people of other nations, so it may be clearer to say something like “he speaks to those who want to follow him (or, obey him).”

In the Hebrew the term Zion appears in the first clause and Jerusalem in the second. Other English versions retain this order, but Good News Translation reverses the order of the terms, presumably so as to put the more familiar term Jerusalem first. The translator may or may not wish to follow this example. These two clauses, too, can be combined if for any reason the parallel expression will be awkward, or if a translator prefers not to refer to Jerusalem by two names. They may then become “From Jerusalem the Lord speaks and teaches his law.”

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 .