Mikha 6:14

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

Even if you have the strength ¹  to overtake some prey, ² 

you will not be able to carry it away; ³ 

if you do happen to carry away something,

I will deliver it over to the sword.

Mikha 7:11

7:11 It will be a day for rebuilding your walls;

in that day your boundary will be extended. ⁴ 

Mikha 1:16

1:16 Shave your heads bald as you mourn for the children you love; ⁵ 

shave your foreheads as bald ⁶  as an eagle, ⁷ 

for they are taken from you into exile.

[6:14]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn The Hiphal of פָּלַט (palat) is used in Isa 5:29 of an animal carrying its prey to a secure place.

[7:11]  ⁴ sn Personified Jerusalem declares her confidence in vv. 8-10; in this verse she is assured that she will indeed be vindicated.

[1:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “over the sons of your delight.”

[1:16]  ⁶ tn Heb “make wide your baldness.”

[1:16]  ⁷ tn Or “a vulture” (cf. NIV, TEV); CEV “a buzzard.” The Hebrew term נֶשֶׁר (nesher) refers to the griffon vulture or eagle.