Verses 6 and 7 give a description of the people returning from exile. The prophet uses the picture of a flock of sheep being brought together after being attacked and scattered. It is thus somewhat similar to 2.12. There is no direct mention here of sheep, but the Hebrew terms for “lame” and “cast off” (Revised Standard Version) certainly carry overtones that would have reminded the Hebrew of sheep. The figure of speech is not used in Good News Translation, but its meaning is conveyed directly by speaking of the people. The whole of these two verses is the utterance of the Lord and is given as direct speech. In translation it will generally be more vivid if this direct speech can be retained.

The time is coming (literally “In that day,” Revised Standard Version) is a common expression in the prophetic books (see, for instance, Isa 4.1; Hos 2.18; Amos 8.9, although Good News Translation has slightly different translations of the same Hebrew words in each of these passages). It carries overtones of reference to the last days but does not indicate whether they are viewed as in the near future or in the distant future.

The content of the Lord’s statement is given in Revised Standard Version in the same order as the Hebrew; but in Good News Translation it has been reordered so as to give a more general statement first and then develop it. The more general statement is I will gather together the people I punished. The Hebrew uses two verbs (translated “assemble” and “gather” in Revised Standard Version) that are both commonly used of the people returning from exile. These verbs mean the same thing, so Good News Translation uses the single term gather together to translate them both. The reference to the exile is only implicit in Revised Standard Version, “those who have been driven away,” but is made explicit in Good News Translation, those who have suffered in exile. Theologically it is important to retain in translation the prophet’s insight that the same Lord is responsible both for punishing the people with exile and for bringing them back together to their own land.

Some translators may need to restructure verse 6 even further to follow the actual order of the events referred to. For example, this might become “I punished the people and sent them away as prisoners to other countries, where they have suffered. But the time is coming when I will gather them together again.” The emphasis in this verse is on the Lord gathering the people, so if it is necessary to restructure the verse and mention the punishment first, this may give the wrong emphasis. If it does, a translator should see if he can find some other way in the language to show where the real emphasis is. Some translators may also want to keep the image of the sheep. This can be mentioned in connection with the thought about the people being sent away: “I sent them away to other countries, just as a flock of sheep are scattered when they are attacked.”

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 .

This verse is in effect a general summary of the accusations of the two previous verses. The possessive Your refers to the city addressed in verse 9. In many languages it will not be possible to speak of rich men being “full of violence” (Revised Standard Version), and many translators will need to follow Good News Translation in making a more general statement like exploit the poor. The Hebrew does not actually say who the rich men were exploiting, but it is reasonable to assume that it was the poor rather than other rich men. Many translators will need to make this explicit as Good News Translation does. Exploit means “to take advantage of,” “to mistreat,” or “to cheat.” If a language has a term that has this sort of meaning and that also implies rather violent actions, that will be particularly good.

In the second half of the verse, the two clauses of Revised Standard Version, “your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth,” are parallel statements with the same meaning. When translated literally, the second clause sounds very strange in most languages (including English!), and Good News Translation accordingly combines the two clauses into one: all of you are liars. This conveys the meaning very adequately and also carries something of the emotional impact of the Hebrew with the strong word liars. Translators should try to maintain this impact in some way appropriate to their own languages. Note that the first part of the verse mentions only the rich men, but the second part speaks of all the inhabitants, apparently including both rich and poor.

Some translations place verse 12 between verses 9 and 10 (Moffatt, New American Bible, Jerusalem Bible), but ordinarily there is no need to do this.

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 .

Verses 8-9 are taken by Good News Translation to be the Lord’s reply to the rich people. In Revised Standard Version they are taken to continue the words of Micah in verse 7. Since the prophet is speaking on behalf of the Lord, and the Lord is speaking through the prophet, the difference is more one of punctuation than of meaning.

The Hebrew text of verse 8 again contains a number of difficulties, and a literal translation of it is almost unintelligible, as shown by New International Version. Several small changes in the Hebrew are generally accepted by scholars, but there is no need to discuss these in detail, since they do not give rise to any significant differences between Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. For full discussion, see the commentaries of Allen (pages 292-293) and Mays (page 67).

Note that Good News Translation has added the words The LORD replies in order to make clear who is speaking. After a translator has decided who is speaking in these verses, he should make sure that his understanding comes across clearly in the translation.

In some languages it may be necessary to make clear who the You are that God is speaking to. One way this can be done is to begin the verse with “The Lord answers these people,” referring to the speakers of the previous verses. Although the context implies that the evildoers are rich and that the people they are wronging are poor, Micah does not actually use these terms himself, and it is probably best for translators to avoid doing so.

My people is a term usually applied to the whole people of Israel, but in this verse and the next it refers only to the poor people. By speaking in this way the Lord shows that he is already treating the oppressors as though they were not part of his people (see verse 5).

The rich behave as badly as foreign enemies towards the poor and attack them, even though in the sight of God the poor are my people. When Men return from battle against enemies from other nations, they naturally think they will be safe at home. But in fact they meet the rich creditor, who demands that they return the money they have borrowed from him. He is like a new enemy who is all the more terrible because he is unexpected.

The description of the rich waiting to steal the coats off their backs is a reference to the law of Exo 22.26-27. If a poor man borrowed money, he would have to give something to the lender as a guarantee that he would repay the money. When the debtor repaid his debt, he would get back whatever he had given as the guarantee, but if he did not pay back his debt, then the lender was allowed to keep it. Often the only thing a poor person owned that was valuable enough to use as a guarantee was his outer garment. But the Law stated that the lender had to return such garments to the borrower every night, since the borrower had nothing else to wrap himself in to keep warm. This humane regulation was openly broken by the creditors of Micah’s day, who kept these garments of the poor indefinitely.

Steal the coats off their backs is an English figure Good News Translation uses to express the inhumane treatment described in the more literal “you strip the robe from…” (Revised Standard Version). If the reference is to the rich people wrongly keeping the garments rather than taking the garment from off a person’s body by force, it may be necessary in some languages to describe this more explicitly. One may say “There you are, waiting to take their coats as security for the money they owe you. You are just like robbers, since you refuse to return the coats when you should.” Another possibility is to say “There you are, waiting to harm them, just like robbers waiting to steal their coats.”

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 .

Here the prophet speaks again in the first person, as in verse 1, but this time his words are full of confidence and hope in contrast to the despair of the earlier verse.

The opening words “But as for me” (Revised Standard Version) convey quite a strong break from the previous verse. Whatever the problems of family life, perhaps even within his own family, Micah himself asserts that he will watch for the LORD. In some languages this may sound incomplete, and it may be necessary to complete the sense by saying “I will watch for the Lord to act” or something similar. It is possible that in some languages watch for will suggest too strongly that Micah expected actually to see God. If this is a problem, “wait for” can be used in this line as well as in the second line.

In the second half of the sentence, the meaning of the phrase “the God of my salvation” (Revised Standard Version) is rather obscure, and so Good News Translation makes the relations between participants clear, with God, who will save me. However, it may be necessary to restructure and say something like “I will wait for God because I am sure he will save me.” Save can be translated as “rescue,” “deliver,” or even “help me to stay alive.”

The final sentence, My God will hear me, may also need slight expansion in some languages in which one speaks of hearing a person’s words rather than hearing the person. An expression like “My God will hear my prayer” will probably be suitable. In many languages My God will be a meaningful expression that suggests an intimate relationship with God. In other languages, however, it may be necessary to say “God, whom I worship” or something similar.

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 .

Verses 3 and 4 speak in traditional language of the Lord coming down to visit the earth and of the effects his presence will have. These effects are described in terms of such upheavals in nature as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and thunderstorms. Similar descriptions are to be found elsewhere in the Old Testament, such as in Exo 19.16-20; Judges 5.4-5; Psa 18.7-12; 97.1-5; Isa 40.4.

Verse 3 in Hebrew begins with “For behold” (Revised Standard Version), which has been left out of the Good News Translation translation. It is intended to call the reader’s attention to the vivid picture about to be described. If languages have an expression used to draw someone’s attention to something, that expression can perhaps be used here. Such an expression may imply that the person spoken to can actually see something, as “behold” sometimes does in English. This would fit the context very well, but some other expression can be used even if it only asks for a person’s attention without suggesting that something can be seen. If a language does not have a good expression, then it is quite all right to do as Good News Translation has done and not translate this word.

The first thing described is The LORD … coming from his holy place, as though the people can actually see him leaving heaven. As in verse 2, holy here refers to something especially belonging to God and can be translated simply by “his,” “his own,” or “the place where he lives,” if holy is hard to translate. It is also possible to say “his good place.” Place can be a general term as in English, but if something more specific is needed, it can be connected with his house in verse 2, or the usual expression for heaven can be used.

The next line begins with he will come down. Both Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version put this in the future, which suggests that the people only see God coming from heaven, but that the other things talked about in verses 3 and 4 have not happened yet. Other versions translate verses 3 and 4 as though the people were watching all of this happen, and such a translation is probably more effective. By the time we get to verse 6, all versions switch to the future and say that Samaria will be punished. If it is not confusing to translate verses 3 and 4 in the present, and then switch to the future in verse 6, this may be more vivid and effective.

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 .

This verse is a pivot between the three verses that precede it and the four that follow. On the one hand it goes closely with verses 5-7, since it gives the evidence that Micah himself is a true prophet, in contrast with the false prophets. On the other hand, by saying that the role of the true prophet is to denounce sin, it naturally leads into verses 9-12, where Israel’s sins are denounced. Because of these links both backwards and forwards, some translations include this verse in one paragraph with verses 5-7 (Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible), and others include it in one paragraph with verses 9-12 (New English Bible, Good News Translation, New International Version). In the Hebrew, the close parallel in language between verse 9 and verse 1 suggests that verse 9 is indeed the beginning of a new section, and that verse 8 is better taken with verses 5-7. However, if a translator feels that the flow of thought in his language will be made smoother by taking verses 8-12 together, he can of course do so.

The opening words of the verse, But as for me, mark a strong contrast between Micah and the false prophets. This type of contrast will be expressed in many different ways in other languages, so the translator’s main concern here should be the meaning rather than the words. For example, some languages might say “But I am not like them. Instead, I am filled….”

The passive form of Revised Standard Version “I am filled” is turned into an active in Good News Translation, with the implied actor expressed: the LORD fills me. In some languages it may not seem possible or natural to use the word for fills in the way it is used in this verse. The meaning is that God caused Micah to have these qualities in a very strong or special way, and it should be possible to find an expression that has this meaning.

Micah is filled with four things. The first is rendered power in both Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version, and implies not only physical strength but moral strength as well.

The second appears in Revised Standard Version as “the Spirit of the LORD.” The spelling of “Spirit” with a capital “S” implies the Holy Spirit, but it is perhaps out of keeping with Micah’s time to see here a reference to a doctrine that is developed in depth only in the New Testament. The Hebrew word has a wider meaning than the English word “spirit” and also covers the area of meaning for which English uses the words “wind” and “breath.” Probably something more general than a filling by the personal Spirit of God is intended here, and the Hebrew word is translated spirit with a small “s” in Good News Translation, and “breath” in Jerusalem Bible. To be filled with the Lord’s spirit in this sense means to share in his character, so as to be able to see contemporary society and events from the point of view of what the Lord wants people to do.

The third thing with which Micah was filled was “justice” (Revised Standard Version), which is interpreted more fully in this context by Good News Translation as a sense of justice. This means the ability to tell what things are wrong in the society, and what needs to be done to make them right.

The fourth thing is courage, and this is linked closely with the task for which the prophet is sent, to tell the people of Israel what their sins are. Revised Standard Version once again gives the literal form of two synonymous and parallel expressions, “to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin.” This repetitiveness is cut out in the single clause of Good News Translation, and many translators will wish to follow this example. The false prophets failed to rebuke the sins of their patrons and even encouraged them. But the true prophet who really was sent by the Lord opposed the sins of his time and society, even though such opposition was almost certain to bring unpopularity (1 Kgs 22.8) or even persecution (2 Chr 24.21-22).

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 .

Here the prophet addresses the witnesses directly and calls them to listen to the LORD’s case. The mountains are repeated from verse 1, but in place of the hills, the everlasting foundations of the earth are summoned as witnesses. These parts of the natural world were also witnesses to the original covenant that the Lord made with his people, as mentioned above. Therefore they are called now as witnesses in this court case, because they will be in a position to confirm the strength of the Lord’s complaint against his people. This complaint is essentially that they have broken the covenant. The everlasting foundations were pictured by the people of Israel as pillars upon which the earth was supported (see New English Bible), just as people might build a house supported on wooden posts. These pillars were thus the foundations of the earth. This idea is of course quite different from our modern understanding of the way the world actually is, and some translators may feel that there is no need to translate so as to show old views that are no longer accepted. But on the other hand, we should not translate so as to suggest that the ancient people believed things about the world that have only been discovered more recently.

There are at least three possible approaches to translation in situations like this. First, one can try to use an expression that gives modern readers some idea of what the people of Israel actually believed. This is what New English Bible has done with its “you everlasting pillars that bear up the earth.” Second, one can use a term that fits both the modern ideas and the ancient ones. This does not draw attention to the old ideas but at least does not deny them. This seems to be what Good News Translation and Revised Standard Version have done with the word foundations, which is accurate but is also a possible way of describing modern ideas of the world. Third, it is possible to add a footnote to explain in more detail what was originally meant by this expression.

Good News Translation can be understood to suggest that the mountains and the foundations are the same things described in two different ways. However, it seems better to assume that two different parts of the natural world are being spoken to here.

These foundations or pillars were the oldest and most unchanging part of the world, and it is in this sense that they are called “enduring” (Revised Standard Version) or everlasting. This may be translated as “very strong” or “firmly in place.”

The meaning of the rest of the verse is quite clear. It basically summarizes the position already outlined: The LORD has a case against his people. He is going to bring an accusation against Israel. Has a case against means basically the same thing as bring an accusation against, and it may be necessary in some languages to combine these two parallel lines into one line. If this is done, the translator should be sure to include both Israel and his people in this line. The use of the term his people suggests that the accusation will be about breaking the covenant with Israel that made them his people.

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 .