Mikha 2:12

The Lord Will Restore His People

2:12 I will certainly gather all of you, O Jacob,

I will certainly assemble those Israelites who remain. ¹ 

I will bring them together like sheep in a fold, ² 

like a flock in the middle of a pasture; ³ 

they will be so numerous that they will make a lot of noise. ⁴ 

Mikha 4:6-7

Restoration Will Follow Crisis

4:6 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will gather the lame,

and assemble the outcasts whom I injured. ⁵ 

4:7 I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation, ⁶ 

and those far off ⁷  into a mighty nation.

The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion,

from that day forward and forevermore.” ⁸ 

Mikha 4:10

4:10 Twist and strain, ⁹  Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor!

For you will leave the city

and live in the open field.

You will go to Babylon,

but there you will be rescued.

There the Lord will deliver ¹⁰  you

from the power ¹¹  of your enemies.

Mikha 5:7-8

5:7 Those survivors from ¹²  Jacob will live ¹³ 

in the midst of many nations. ¹⁴ 

They will be like the dew the Lord sends,

like the rain on the grass,

that does not hope for men to come

or wait around for humans to arrive. ¹⁵ 

5:8 Those survivors from Jacob will live among the nations,

in the midst of many peoples.

They will be like a lion among the animals of the forest,

like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,

which attacks when it passes through;

it rips its prey ¹⁶  and there is no one to stop it. ¹⁷ 

[2:12]  ¹ tn Heb “the remnant of Israel.”

[2:12]  ² tc The MT reads בָּצְרָה (batsrah, “Bozrah”) but the form should be emended to בַּצִּרָה (batsirah, “into the fold”). See D. R. Hillers, Micah (Hermeneia), 38.

[2:12]  ³ tc The MT reads “its pasture,” but the final vav (ו) belongs with the following verb. See GKC 413 §127.i.

[2:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “and they will be noisy [or perhaps, “excited”] from men.” The subject of the third feminine plural verb תְּהִימֶנָה (tÿhimenah, “they will be noisy”) is probably the feminine singular צֹאן (tso’n, “flock”). (For another example of this collective singular noun with a feminine plural verb, see Gen 30:38.) In the construction מֵאָדָם (me’adam, “from men”) the preposition is probably causal. L. C. Allen translates “bleating in fear of men” (Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah [NICOT], 300), but it is possible to take the causal sense as “because of the large quantity of men.” In this case the sheep metaphor and the underlying reality are mixed.

[4:6]  ⁵ sn The exiles of the nation are compared to lame and injured sheep.

[4:7]  ⁶ tn Heb “make the lame into a remnant.”

[4:7]  ⁷ tn The precise meaning of this difficult form is uncertain. The present translation assumes the form is a Niphal participle of an otherwise unattested denominative verb הָלָא (hala’, “to be far off”; see BDB 229 s.v.), but attractive emendations include הַנַּחֲלָה (hannakhalah, “the sick one[s]”) from חָלָה (khalah) and הַנִּלְאָה (hannil’ah, “the weary one[s]”) from לָאָה (la’ah).

[4:7]  ⁸ tn Heb “from now until forever.”

[4:10]  ⁹ tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”

[4:10]  ¹⁰ tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[4:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.

[5:7]  ¹² tn Heb “the remnant of” (also in v. 8).

[5:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “will be.”

[5:7]  ¹⁴ tn This could mean “(scattered) among the nations” (cf. CEV, NLT) or “surrounded by many nations” (cf. NRSV).

[5:7]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “that does not hope for man, and does not wait for the sons of men.”

[5:7]  sn Men wait eagerly for the dew and the rain, not vice versa. Just as the dew and rain are subject to the Lord, not men, so the remnant of Israel will succeed by the supernatural power of God and not need the support of other nations. There may even be a military metaphor here. Israel will overwhelm their enemies, just as the dew completely covers the grass (see 2 Sam 17:12). This interpretation would be consistent with the image of v. 7.

[5:8]  ¹⁶ tn The words “its prey” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[5:8]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “and there is no deliverer.”