Mikha 4:2

4:2 Many nations will come, saying,

“Come on! Let’s go up to the Lord’s mountain,

to the temple ¹  of Jacob’s God,

so he can teach us his commands ² 

and we can live by his laws.” ³ 

For Zion will be the source of instruction;

the Lord’s teachings will proceed from Jerusalem. ⁴ 

Mikha 5:5

5:5 He will give us peace. ⁵ 

Should the Assyrians try to invade our land

and attempt to set foot in our fortresses, ⁶ 

we will send ⁷  against them seven ⁸  shepherd-rulers, ⁹ 

make that eight commanders. ¹⁰ 

Mikha 6:14

6:14 You will eat, but not be satisfied.

Even if you have the strength ¹¹  to overtake some prey, ¹² 

you will not be able to carry it away; ¹³ 

if you do happen to carry away something,

I will deliver it over to the sword.

Mikha 7:9

7:9 I must endure ¹⁴  the Lord’s anger,

for I have sinned against him.

But then ¹⁵  he will defend my cause, ¹⁶ 

and accomplish justice on my behalf.

He will lead me out into the light;

I will experience firsthand ¹⁷  his deliverance. ¹⁸ 

Mikha 7:17

7:17 They will lick the dust like a snake,

like serpents crawling on the ground. ¹⁹ 

They will come trembling from their strongholds

to the Lord our God; ²⁰ 

they will be terrified ²¹  of you. ²² 

[4:2]  ¹ tn Heb “house.”

[4:2]  ² tn Heb “ways.”

[4:2]  ³ tn Heb “and we can walk in his paths.”

[4:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “instruction [or, “law”] will go out from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.”

[4:2]  map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.

[5:5]  ⁵ tn Heb “and this one will be peace”; ASV “and this man shall be our peace” (cf. Eph 2:14).

[5:5]  ⁶ tc Some prefer to read “in our land,” emending the text to בְּאַדְמָתֵנוּ (bÿ’admatenu).

[5:5]  ⁷ tn Heb “raise up.”

[5:5]  ⁸ sn The numbers seven and eight here symbolize completeness and emphasize that Israel will have more than enough military leadership and strength to withstand the Assyrian advance.

[5:5]  ⁹ tn Heb “shepherds.”

[5:5]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and eight leaders of men.”

[6:14]  ¹¹ tc The first Hebrew term in the line (וְיֶשְׁחֲךָ, vÿyeshkhakha) is obscure. HALOT 446 s.v. יֶשַׁח understands a noun meaning “filth,” which would yield the translation, “and your filth is inside you.” The translation assumes an emendation to כֹּחַ-וְיֶשׁ (vÿyesh-koakh, “and [if] there is strength inside you”).

[6:14]  ¹² tn The meaning of the Hebrew term וְתַסֵּג (vÿtasseg) is unclear. The translation assumes it is a Hiphal imperfect from נָסַג/נָשַׂג (nasag/nasag, “reach; overtake”) and that hunting imagery is employed. (Note the reference to hunger in the first line of the verse.) See D. R. Hillers, Micah (Hermeneia), 80.

[6:14]  ¹³ tn The Hiphal of פָּלַט (palat) is used in Isa 5:29 of an animal carrying its prey to a secure place.

[7:9]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “lift, bear.”

[7:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “until.”

[7:9]  ¹⁶ tn Or “plead my case” (NASB and NIV both similar); NRSV “until he takes my side.”

[7:9]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “see.”

[7:9]  ¹⁸ tn Or “justice, vindication.”

[7:17]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “like crawling things on the ground.” The parallelism suggests snakes are in view.

[7:17]  ²⁰ tn Thetranslationassumesthatthe phrase אֶל־יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ (’el-yÿhvah ’elohenu, “to the Lord our God”) goes with what precedes. Another option is to take the phrase with the following verb, in which case one could translate, “to the Lord our God they will turn in dread.”

[7:17]  ²¹ tn Heb “they will be in dread and afraid.”

[7:17]  ²² tn The Lord is addressed directly using the second person.