Micah 4

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Micah 4:1 sn Cf. Isa 2:2. See the note at Gen 49:1.
2. Micah 4:1 tn Heb “will be established as the head of the mountains.”
3. Micah 4:1 tn Heb “it will be lifted up above the hills.”
4. Micah 4:2 tn Heb “and we can walk in his paths.”
5. Micah 4:3 tn Or “judge.”
6. Micah 4:3 tn Or “mighty” (NASB); KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “strong”; TEV “among the great powers.”
7. Micah 4:3 tn Heb “[for many nations] to a distance.”
8. Micah 4:3 sn Instead of referring to the large plow as a whole, the plowshare is simply the metal tip which actually breaks the earth and cuts the furrow.
9. Micah 4:3 sn This implement was used to prune the vines, i.e., to cut off extra leaves and young shoots (M. Klingbeil, NIDOTTE 1:1117-18). It was a short knife with a curved hook at the end sharpened on the inside like a sickle.
10. Micah 4:3 tn Heb “take up the sword.”
11. Micah 4:4 tn Heb “and there will be no one making [him] afraid.”
12. Micah 4:4 tn Heb “for the mouth of the Lord…has spoken.”
13. Micah 4:5 tn Heb “walk each in the name of his god.” The term “name” here has the idea of “authority.” To “walk in the name” of a god is to recognize the god’s authority as binding over one’s life.
14. Micah 4:5 tn Heb “walk in the name of.”
15. Micah 4:6 sn The exiles of the nation are compared to lame and injured sheep.
16. Micah 4:7 tn Heb “make the lame into a remnant.”
17. Micah 4:7 tn The precise meaning of this difficult form is uncertain. The present translation assumes the form is a Niphal participle of an otherwise unattested denominative verb הָלָא (halaʾ, “to be far off”; see BDB 229 s.v.), but attractive emendations include הַנַּחֲלָה (hannakhalah, “the sick one[s]”) from חָלָה (khalah) and הַנִּלְאָה (hannilʾah, “the weary one[s]”) from לָאָה (laʾah).
18. Micah 4:7 tn Heb “from now until forever.”
19. Micah 4:8 tn Heb “Migdal Eder.” Some English versions transliterate this phrase, apparently because they view it as a place name (cf. NAB).
20. Micah 4:8 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.
21. Micah 4:8 tn Heb “to you it will come, the former dominion will arrive.”
22. Micah 4:9 tn The Hebrew form is feminine singular, indicating that Jerusalem, personified as a young woman, is now addressed (see v. 10). In v. 8 the tower/fortress was addressed with masculine forms, so there is clearly a shift in addressee here. “Jerusalem” has been supplied in the translation at the beginning of v. 9 to make this shift apparent.
23. Micah 4:9 tn Heb “Now why are you shouting [with] a shout.”
24. Micah 4:9 tn Heb “Is there no king over you?”
25. Micah 4:9 tn Traditionally, “counselor” (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). This refers to the king mentioned in the previous line; the title points to the king’s roles as chief strategist and policy maker, both of which required extraordinary wisdom.
26. Micah 4:9 tn Heb “that.” The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) is used here in a resultative sense; for this use see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §450.
27. Micah 4:9 tn Heb “grabs hold of, seizes.”
28. Micah 4:10 tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”
29. Micah 4:10 tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
30. Micah 4:10 tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.
31. Micah 4:11 tn Heb “let her be desecrated.” The referent (Jerusalem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
32. Micah 4:11 tn Heb “and let our eye look upon Zion.” This is a Hebrew idiom for a typically smug or condescending look by someone in a superior position.
33. Micah 4:12 tn The words “to be threshed” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation to make it clear that the Lord is planning to enable “Daughter Zion” to “thresh” her enemies.
34. Micah 4:13 tn Heb “I will make your horn iron.”
35. Micah 4:13 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.
36. Micah 4:13 tn Or “the Lord” (so many English versions); Heb “the master.”
37. Micah 4:13 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.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 Lord’s victory over the Assyrian armies in 701 b.c. foreshadowed this.