This verse takes up again the theme of verse 4 and announces the fate of the rich oppressors. It continues to be the word of the Lord, either directly if Good News Translation is followed, or indirectly through the prophet if Revised Standard Version is followed. The rich must Get up and go into exile. The commands are intended to resemble those which an enemy soldier would give to people about to be taken away as captives, and it will be effective if the translator can use terms that fit this sort of context.

The rich can expect to find no safety here (literally “no resting place,” as in New English Bible, New International Version, New Jerusalem Bible) in the promised land any more. Their sins have finally caught up with them and doomed this place to destruction. Probably Jerusalem is the place in mind that is to be destroyed (compare Micah 3.12). Good News Translation shortens the repetitive structure of the Hebrew into more natural English, and most translators will need to follow this example.

The concept doomed … to destruction may be difficult to translate into some languages, and it may be more effective to use a wording closer to the Hebrew, if a language has expressions that can do this. The idea in Hebrew is that all of the evil acts of these people have made the land itself unclean (see Lev 18.24-28; Ezek 24.13), and the only possible result of this is for God to destroy the country. “Unclean” here means to be in a state or condition that God hates. The Hebrew uses special emphasis when referring to the destruction, so it may be good to use an expression like “terrible destruction” or “completely destroy.” Compare New International Version “it is ruined, beyond all remedy.”

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 .