Mikha 2:1-3

Land Robbers Will Lose their Land

2:1 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 

2:3 Therefore the Lord says this: “Look, I am devising disaster for this nation! ⁷ 

It will be like a yoke from which you cannot free your neck. ⁸ 

You will no longer ⁹  walk proudly,

for it will be a time of catastrophe.

Mikha 3:1-4

God Will Judge Judah’s Sinful Leaders

3:1 I said,

“Listen, you leaders ¹⁰  of Jacob,

you rulers of the nation ¹¹  of Israel!

You ought to know what is just, ¹² 

3:2 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.

3:4 Someday these sinners will cry to the Lord for help, ²⁰ 

but he will not answer them.

He will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have done such wicked deeds.”

Mikha 7:3-4

7:3 They are determined to be experts at doing evil; ²¹ 

government officials and judges take bribes, ²² 

prominent men make demands,

and they all do what is necessary to satisfy them. ²³ 

7:4 The best of them is like a thorn;

the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes. ²⁴ 

The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen –

your appointed time of punishment – is on the way, ²⁵ 

and then you will experience confusion. ²⁶ 

[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.

[2:3]  ⁷ tn Heb “clan” or “extended family.”

[2:3]  ⁸ tn Heb “from which you will not remove your neck.” The words “It will be like a yoke” are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:3]  ⁹ tn Or “you will not.”

[3:1]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “heads.”

[3:1]  ¹¹ tn Heb “house.”

[3:1]  ¹² tn Heb “Should you not know justice?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course you should!”

[3:2]  ¹³ tn Heb “the ones who.”

[3:2]  ¹⁴ tn Or “good.”

[3:2]  ¹⁵ tn Or “evil.”

[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 Lord as the speaker) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[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]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “who.”

[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”).

[3:4]  ²⁰ tn Heb “then they will cry out to the Lord.” The words “Someday these sinners” have been supplied in the translation for clarification.

[7:3]  ²¹ tn Heb “upon evil [are their] hands to do [it] well.”

[7:3]  ²² tn Heb “the official asks – and the judge – for a bribe.”

[7:3]  ²³ tn More literally, “the great one announces what his appetite desires and they weave it together.” Apparently this means that subordinates plot and maneuver to make sure the prominent man’s desires materialize.

[7:4]  ²⁴ tn Heb “[the] godly from a row of thorn bushes.” The preposition מִן (min) is comparative and the comparative element (perhaps “sharper” is the idea) is omitted. See BDB 582 s.v. 6 and GKC 431 §133.e.

[7:4]  ²⁵ tn Heb “the day of your watchmen, your appointed [time], is coming.” The present translation takes “watchmen” to refer to actual sentries. However, the “watchmen” could refer figuratively to the prophets who had warned Judah of approaching judgment. In this case one could translate, “The day your prophets warned about – your appointed time of punishment – is on the way.”

[7:4]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and now will be their confusion.”