Mikha 5:10-14

The Lord Will Purify His People

5:10 “In that day,” says the Lord,

“I will destroy ¹  your horses from your midst,

and smash your chariots.

5:11 I will destroy the cities of your land,

and tear down all your fortresses.

5:12 I will remove the sorcery ²  that you practice, ³ 

and you will no longer have omen readers living among you. ⁴ 

5:13 I will remove your idols and sacred pillars from your midst;

you will no longer worship what your own hands made.

5:14 I will uproot your images of Asherah ⁵  from your midst,

and destroy your idols. ⁶ 

[5:10]  ¹ tn Heb “cut off” (also in the following verse).

[5:12]  ² tn Heb “magic charms” (so NCV, TEV); NIV, NLT “witchcraft”; NAB “the means of divination.” The precise meaning of this Hebrew word is uncertain, but note its use in Isa 47:9, 12.

[5:12]  ³ tn Heb “from your hands.”

[5:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “and you will not have omen-readers.”

[5:14]  ⁵ tn Or “Asherah poles.”

[5:14]  sn Asherah was a leading deity of the Canaanite pantheon, wife/sister of El and goddess of fertility. She was commonly worshiped at shrines in or near groves of evergreen trees, or, failing that, at places marked by wooden poles. These were to be burned or cut down (Deut 12:3; 16:21; Judg 6:25, 28, 30; 2 Kgs 18:4). The Lord states that he will destroy these images, something the Israelites themselves should have done but failed to do.

[5:14]  ⁶ tn The MT reads “your cities,” but many emend the text to צִרֶיךָ (tsirekha, “your images”) or עֲצַבֶּיךָ (’atsbbekha, “your idols”).