Mikha 2:1-2
Konteks2:1 Those who devise sinful plans are as good as dead, 1
those who dream about doing evil as they lie in bed. 2
As soon as morning dawns they carry out their plans, 3
because they have the power to do so.
2:2 They confiscate the fields they desire,
and seize the houses they want. 4
They defraud people of their homes, 5
and deprive people of the land they have inherited. 6
Mikha 2:8-9
Konteks2:8 but you rise up as an enemy against my people. 7
You steal a robe from a friend, 8
from those who pass by peacefully as if returning from a war. 9
2:9 You wrongly evict widows 10 among my people from their cherished homes.
You defraud their children 11 of their prized inheritance. 12
Mikha 3:2-3
Konteks3:2 yet you 13 hate what is good, 14
and love what is evil. 15
You flay my people’s skin 16
and rip the flesh from their bones. 17
3:3 You 18 devour my people’s flesh,
strip off their skin,
and crush their bones.
You chop them up like flesh in a pot 19 –
like meat in a kettle.
Mikha 3:9-12
Konteks3:9 Listen to this, you leaders of the family 20 of Jacob,
you rulers of the nation 21 of Israel!
You 22 hate justice
and pervert all that is right.
3:10 You 23 build Zion through bloody crimes, 24
Jerusalem 25 through unjust violence.
3:11 Her 26 leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, 27
her priests proclaim rulings for profit,
and her prophets read omens for pay.
Yet they claim to trust 28 the Lord and say,
“The Lord is among us. 29
Disaster will not overtake 30 us!”
3:12 Therefore, because of you, 31 Zion will be plowed up like 32 a field,
Jerusalem will become a heap of ruins,
and the Temple Mount 33 will become a hill overgrown with brush! 34
[2:1] 1 tn Heb “Woe to those who plan sin.” The Hebrew term הוֹי (hoy, “woe”; “ah”) was a cry used in mourning the dead.
[2:1] 2 tn Heb “those who do evil upon their beds.”
[2:1] 3 tn Heb “at the light of morning they do it.”
[2:2] 4 tn Heb “they desire fields and rob [them], and houses and take [them] away.”
[2:2] 5 tn Heb “and they oppress a man and his home.”
[2:2] 6 tn Heb “and a man and his inheritance.” The verb עָשַׁק (’ashaq, “to oppress”; “to wrong”) does double duty in the parallel structure and is understood by ellipsis in the second line.
[2:8] 7 tc Heb “Recently my people rise up as an enemy.” The MT is problematic in light of v. 9, where “my people” are the object of oppression, not the perpetrators of it. The form וְאֶתְמוּל (vÿ’etmul, “and recently”) is probably the product of fusion and subsequent suppression of an (ע) ayin. The translation assumes an emendation to וְאַתֶּם עַל (vÿ’attem ’al, “and you against [my people]”). The second person plural pronoun fits well with the second plural verb forms of vv. 8b-10. If this emendation is accepted, then יְקוֹמֵם (yÿqomem, the imperfect of קוּם [qum]) should be emended to קָמִים (qamim; a participle from the same root).
[2:8] 8 tc Heb “From the front of a garment glory [or perhaps, “a robe”] you strip off,” but this makes little if any sense. The term מִמּוּל (mimmul, “from the front of”) is probably the product of dittography (note the preceding word, which ends in [ם] mem) and subsequent suppression of ע (ayin). The translation assumes an emendation to מֵעַל (me’al, “from upon”). The translation also assumes an emendation of שַׂלְמָה אֶדֶר (salmah ’eder, “a garment, glory [or robe]”) to שֹׁלְמִים אֲדֶרֶת (sholÿmim ’aderet, “[from] a friend the robe [you strip off]”). The MT’s אֶדֶר (’eder) is the result of misdivision (the article has erroneously been attached to the preceding word) and haplography (of the final tav, which also begins the following word).
[2:8] 9 tc The passive participle שׁוּבֵי (shuvey) is unattested elsewhere and should be emended to a participle שָׁבִים (shavim).
[2:8] tn Heb “from those passing by peacefully, returnees from war.” Actual refugees, however, are probably not in view. The second line compares those who pass by peacefully with individuals returning from war. The battle is over and they do not expect their own countrymen to attack them.
[2:9] 10 tn Heb “women.” This may be a synecdoche of the whole (women) for the part (widows).
[2:9] 11 tn Heb “her little children” or “her infants”; ASV, NRSV “young children.”
[2:9] 12 tn Heb “from their children you take my glory forever.” The yod (י) ending on הֲדָרִי (hadariy) is usually taken as a first person common singular suffix (“my glory”). But it may be the archaic genitive ending (“glory of”) in the construct expression “glory of perpetuity,” that is, “perpetual glory.” In either case, this probably refers to the dignity or honor the
[3:2] 13 tn Heb “the ones who.”
[3:2] 16 tn Heb “their skin from upon them.” The referent of the pronoun (“my people,” referring to Jacob and/or the house of Israel, with the
[3:2] 17 tn Heb “and their flesh from their bones.”
[3:2] sn Micah compares the social injustice perpetrated by the house of Jacob/Israel to cannibalism, because it threatens the very lives of the oppressed.
[3:3] 19 tc The MT reads “and they chop up as in a pot.” The translation assumes an emendation of כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka’asher, “as”) to כִּשְׁאֵר (kish’er, “like flesh”).
[3:9] 22 tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons (also at the beginning of v. 10).
[3:10] 24 tn Heb “bloodshed” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NLT “murder.”
[3:10] 25 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
[3:11] 26 sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).
[3:11] 27 tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”
[3:11] 28 tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”
[3:11] 29 tn Heb “Is not the
[3:11] 30 tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”
[3:12] 31 tn The plural pronoun refers to the leaders, priests, and prophets mentioned in the preceding verse.
[3:12] 32 tn Or “into” (an adverbial accusative of result).
[3:12] 33 tn Heb “the mountain of the house” (so KJV, ASV, NRSV).
