The pun in the first half of this verse depends on the similarity of sound between the name Mareshah and the Hebrew word yoresh, translated “conqueror” in Revised Standard Version. Some scholars have thought that Mareshah is an alternative form of Moresheth, but it is best regarded as another village in Micah’s home area, the place named in Josh 15.44. These words are addressed directly to the people of Mareshah.

This is the only sentence in this section that is in the first person in Hebrew. The “I” here (Revised Standard Version) is the Lord speaking. When the prophets were giving a message about the Lord, they often made sudden changes from their own words to his words. In most languages this type of change will be hard to understand or may be understood as Micah himself speaking. It is better to do as Good News Translation has done here and identify the speaker as the Lord. Some translators may prefer to say “the Lord says he will hand you over.”

What the Lord says is that he will hand you over to an enemy, who is going to capture your town. This means that he will send an enemy army to conquer Mareshah, as Revised Standard Version suggests. Other versions have understood this line as meaning “I will send others to take your place” (New English Bible). This can be related to the idea of a conqueror if it means that the conquering people will take the people of Mareshah away into exile and bring others to live in their town.

Revised Standard Version and Jerusalem Bible understand that this conqueror will come to Mareshah “again.” If this is correct, it must refer to some previous incident that was the first time the conqueror came there. Other versions (King James Version, Moffatt, New American Bible, Modern Language Bible) translate this as “yet,” which must mean that it is something that has not happened yet, but it will happen. New American Standard Bible (“Moreover”) and New English Bible (“And you too”) seem to suggest that this is just a way of introducing this reference to Mareshah, by saying that there is a message for them, as there was a message for all the other towns that have been mentioned already. Good News Translation has simply omitted any translation here, as has New International Version. If “again” does not mean “a second time” in this verse, it may well be omitted in other languages, since the other alternatives are simply connecting words that do not add anything new to the sense.

The second half of the verse contains no pun that can now be recognized. The “glory of Israel” (Revised Standard Version) is best taken as a reference to the leaders of Israel rather than to the country’s wealth and power. Adullam was a fortified town not far from Achzib, but the reference here is to a nearby cave in which David took refuge when he was fleeing both from King Saul and from Achish, the Philistine king of Gath (1 Sam 22.1). It thus became a symbol for the last hope in a desperate situation. When Micah here says that The leaders of Israel will go and hide in the cave at Adullam, he means that their circumstances will be critical and hopeless, just as David’s had been. Of course, if the leaders of the nation were in such a position, the ordinary people would have been even worse off.

The British edition of Good News Translation has here “The glorious leaders.” This can be translated as “The great leaders” or “The most important people.” There may be some idea here that everything that made the country proud in the past is now only something to be ashamed of. In some languages this can be partly brought out by saying “The leaders, great as they are” or “Even though the leaders are so important, they must run away and hide.” If it is difficult to find a term for “great” or “important,” it is enough to say just “The leaders.”

As in verse 14, Israel here seems to refer more specifically to Judah, and it may be less confusing to call them “The leaders of Judah.”

Literally, the Hebrew says only that they “shall come to Adullam” (Revised Standard Version), but this will be meaningless for most readers who do not understand the importance of Adullam in Israel’s history. Good News Translation and New English Bible have made the meaning clearer in two ways. First, they have said that Adullam is a cave; and second, they have said that the leaders will go there to hide. Some translators may want to add one more point and say “just as King David did.” If all of the 400 people mentioned in 1 Sam 22.2 were with David inside this cave, it must have been a very large one. If a language does not have a word for cave, this may be translated as “a large hole like a room inside a mountain,” or else one may omit the word “cave” and just say “go and hide at Adullam.”

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 .