Mikha 7:4

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

the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes. ¹ 

The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen –

your appointed time of punishment – is on the way, ² 

and then you will experience confusion. ³ 

Mikha 7:10

7:10 When my enemies see this, they will be covered with shame.

They say ⁴  to me, “Where is the Lord your God?”

I will gloat over them. ⁵ 

Then they will be trampled down ⁶ 

like mud in the streets.

[7:4]  ¹ 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]  ² 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]  ³ tn Heb “and now will be their confusion.”

[7:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “who say.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[7:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “My eyes will look on them.”

[7:10]  ⁶ tn Heb “a trampled-down place.”