Mikha 4:8
Konteks4:8 As for you, watchtower for the flock, 1
fortress of Daughter Zion 2 –
your former dominion will be restored, 3
the sovereignty that belongs to Daughter Jerusalem.
Mikha 4:10
Konteks4:10 Twist and strain, 4 Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor!
For you will leave the city
and live in the open field.
You will go to Babylon,
but there you will be rescued.
There the Lord will deliver 5 you
from the power 6 of your enemies.
Mikha 4:13
Konteks4:13 “Get up and thresh, Daughter Zion!
For I will give you iron horns; 7
I will give you bronze hooves,
and you will crush many nations.” 8
You will devote to the Lord the spoils you take from them,
and dedicate their wealth to the sovereign Ruler 9 of the whole earth. 10
[4:8] 1 tn Heb “Migdal-eder.” Some English versions transliterate this phrase, apparently because they view it as a place name (cf. NAB).
[4:8] 2 sn The city of David, located within Jerusalem, is addressed as Daughter Zion. As the home of the Davidic king, who was Israel’s shepherd (Ps 78:70-72), the royal citadel could be viewed metaphorically as the watchtower of the flock.
[4:8] 3 tn Heb “to you it will come, the former dominion will arrive.”
[4:10] 4 tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”
[4:10] 5 tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
[4:10] 6 tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.
[4:13] 7 tn Heb “I will make your horn iron.”
[4:13] 8 sn Jerusalem (Daughter Zion at the beginning of the verse; cf. 4:8) is here compared to a powerful ox which crushes the grain on the threshing floor with its hooves.
[4:13] 9 tn Or “the Lord” (so many English versions); Heb “the master.”
[4:13] 10 tn Heb “and their wealth to the master of all the earth.” The verb “devote” does double duty in the parallelism and is supplied in the second line for clarification.
[4:13] sn In vv. 11-13 the prophet jumps from the present crisis (which will result in exile, v. 10) to a time beyond the restoration of the exiles when God will protect his city from invaders. The
