Mikha 1:8

1:8 For this reason I ¹  will mourn and wail;

I will walk around barefoot ²  and without my outer garments. ³ 

I will howl ⁴  like a wild dog, ⁵ 

and screech ⁶  like an owl. ⁷ 

Mikha 1:11

1:11 Residents ⁸  of Shaphir, ⁹  pass by in nakedness and humiliation! ¹⁰ 

The residents of Zaanan can’t leave their city. ¹¹ 

Beth Ezel ¹²  mourns, ¹³ 

“He takes from you what he desires.” ¹⁴ 

Mikha 7:18

7:18 There is no other God like you! ¹⁵ 

You ¹⁶  forgive sin

and pardon ¹⁷  the rebellion

of those who remain among your people. ¹⁸ 

You do not remain angry forever, ¹⁹ 

but delight in showing loyal love.

[1:8]  ¹ tn The prophet is probably the speaker here.

[1:8]  ² tn Or “stripped.” The precise meaning of this Hebrew word is unclear. It may refer to walking barefoot (see 2 Sam 15:30) or to partially stripping oneself (see Job 12:17-19).

[1:8]  ³ tn Heb “naked.” This probably does not refer to complete nudity, but to stripping off one’s outer garments as an outward sign of the destitution felt by the mourner.

[1:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “I will make lamentation.”

[1:8]  ⁵ tn Or “a jackal”; CEV “howling wolves.”

[1:8]  ⁶ tn Heb “[make] a mourning.”

[1:8]  ⁷ tn Or perhaps “ostrich” (cf. ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

[1:11]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew participial form, which is feminine singular, is here used in a collective sense for the all the residents of the town. See GKC 394 §122.s.

[1:11]  ⁹ sn The place name Shaphir means “pleasant” in Hebrew.

[1:11]  ¹⁰ tn The imperatival form is used rhetorically, emphasizing that the inhabitants of Shaphir will pass by into exile.

[1:11]  ¹¹ tn Heb “have not come out”; NIV “will not come out”; NLT “dare not come outside.”

[1:11]  sn The expression can’t leave their city alludes to a siege of the town. The place name Zaanan sounds like the verb “come out” (i.e., “can’t leave”) in Hebrew.

[1:11]  ¹² sn The place name Beth Ezel means “house of nearness” or “house of proximity” in Hebrew.

[1:11]  ¹³ tn Heb “the lamentation of Beth Ezel.” The following words could be the lamentation offered up by Beth Ezel (subjective genitive) or the mourning song sung over it (objective genitive).

[1:11]  ¹⁴ tc The form עֶמְדָּתוֹ (’emdato) should be emended to חֲמַדְּתוֹ (khamadto, “his (the conqueror’s) desire”).

[1:11]  tn The precise meaning of the line is uncertain. The translation assumes: (a) the subject of the third masculine singular verb יִקַּח (yiqqakh, “he/it takes”) is the conqueror, (b) the second masculine plural suffix (“you”) on the preposition מִן (min, “from”) refers to the residents of Shaphir and Zaanan, (c) the final form עֶמְדָּתוֹ should be emended to חֲמַדְּתוֹ, “his (the conqueror’s) desire.”

[7:18]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “Who is a God like you?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one!”

[7:18]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “one who.” The prayer moves from direct address (second person) in v. 18a to a descriptive (third person) style in vv. 18b-19a and then back to direct address (second person) in vv. 19b-20. Due to considerations of English style and the unfamiliarity of the modern reader with alternation of persons in Hebrew poetry, the entire section has been rendered as direct address (second person) in the translation.

[7:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “pass over.”

[7:18]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”

[7:18]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he does not keep hold of his anger forever.”