Passage Resources Hebrew/Greek Your Content
Previous Next
Add parallel Print Page Options

Joel 2
New English Translation

The Locusts’ Devastation

2 Blow the trumpet[a] in Zion;
sound the alarm signal on my holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land shake with fear,
for the day of the Lord is about to come.
Indeed,[b] it is near![c]
2 It will be[d] a day of dreadful darkness,[e]
a day of foreboding storm clouds,[f]
like blackness[g] spread over the mountains.
It is a huge and powerful army[h]—
there has never been anything like it ever before,
and there will not be anything like it for many generations to come![i]
3 Like fire they devour everything in their path;[j]

a flame blazes behind them.
The land looks like the Garden of Eden[k] before them,
but behind them there is only a desolate wilderness—
for nothing escapes them![l]
4 They look like horses;[m]
they charge ahead like war horses.
5 They sound like[n] chariots rumbling[o] over mountain tops,
like the crackling[p] of blazing fire consuming stubble,
like the noise of[q] a mighty army[r] being drawn up for battle.[s]
6 People[t] writhe in fear when they see them.[u]
All their faces turn pale with fright.[v]
7 They[w] charge[x] like warriors;
they scale walls like soldiers.[y]
Each one proceeds on his course;
they do not alter[z] their path.
8 They do not jostle one another;[aa]
each of them marches straight ahead.[ab]
They burst through[ac] the city defenses[ad]
and do not break ranks.
9 They rush into[ae] the city;
they scale[af] its walls.
They climb up into the houses;
they go in through the windows like a thief.
10 The earth quakes[ag] before them;[ah]
the sky reverberates.[ai]
The sun and the moon grow dark;
the stars refuse to shine.[aj]
11 The voice of the Lord thunders[ak] as he leads his army.[al]
Indeed, his warriors[am] are innumerable;[an]
Surely his command is carried out![ao]
Yes, the day of the Lord is awesome[ap]
and very terrifying—who can survive[aq] it?

An Appeal for Repentance

12 “Yet even now,” the Lord says,
“return to me with all your heart—
with fasting, weeping, and mourning.
13 Tear your hearts,[ar]
not just your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is merciful and compassionate,
slow to anger and boundless in loyal love[as]—often relenting from calamitous punishment.[at]
14 Who knows?
Perhaps he will be compassionate and grant a reprieve,[au]
and leave blessing in his wake[av]—
a meal offering and a drink offering for you to offer to the Lord your God![aw]
15 Blow the trumpet[ax] in Zion.

Announce a holy fast;
proclaim a sacred assembly.
16 Gather the people;
sanctify an assembly!
Gather the elders;
gather the children and the nursing infants.
Let the bridegroom come out from his bedroom
and the bride from her private quarters.[ay]
17 Let the priests, those who serve the Lord, weep
from the vestibule all the way back to the altar.[az]
Let them say, “Have pity, O Lord, on your people;
please do not turn over your inheritance to be mocked,
to become a proverb[ba] among the nations.
Why should it be said[bb] among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’

The Lord’s Response

18 Then the Lord became zealous[bc] for his land;
he had compassion on his people.
19 The Lord responded[bd] to his people,
“Look! I am about to restore your grain[be]
as well as fresh wine and olive oil.
You will be fully satisfied.[bf]
I will never again make you an object of mockery among the nations.
20 I will remove the one from the north[bg] far from you.
I will drive him out to a dry and desolate place.
Those in front will be driven eastward into the Dead Sea,[bh]
and those in back westward into the Mediterranean Sea.[bi]
His stench will rise up as a foul smell.”[bj]
Indeed, the Lord[bk] has accomplished great things!
21 Do not fear, my land.

Rejoice and be glad,
because the Lord has accomplished great things!
22 Do not fear, wild animals.[bl]
For the pastures of the wilderness are again green with grass.
Indeed, the trees bear their fruit;
the fig tree and the vine yield to their fullest.[bm]
23 Citizens of Zion,[bn] rejoice!
Be glad because of what the Lord your God has done![bo]
For he has given to you the early rains[bp] as vindication.
He has sent[bq] to you the rains—
both the early and the late rains[br] as formerly.
24 The threshing floors are full of grain;
the vats overflow with fresh wine and olive oil.
25 I will make up for the years[bs]
that the ‘arbeh-locust[bt] consumed your crops[bu]—
the yeleq-locust, the hasil-locust, and the gazam-locust—
my great army[bv] that I sent against you.
26 You will have plenty to eat,
and your hunger will be fully satisfied;[bw]
you will praise the name of the Lord your God,
who has acted wondrously in your behalf.
My people will never again be put to shame.
27 You will be convinced that I am in the midst of Israel.
I am the Lord your God; there is no other.
My people will never again be put to shame.

An Outpouring of the Spirit

28 (3:1)[bx] After all of this[by]
I will pour out my Spirit[bz] on all kinds of people.[ca]
Your sons and daughters will prophesy.
Your elderly will have prophetic dreams;[cb]
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on male and female servants
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will produce portents both in the sky[cc] and on the earth—
blood, fire, and columns of smoke.
31 The sunlight will be turned to darkness
and the moon to the color of blood,[cd]
before the day of the Lord comes—
that great and terrible day!
32 It will so happen that
everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered.[ce]
For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who survive,[cf]
just as the Lord has promised;
the remnant[cg] will be those whom the Lord will call.[ch]

Footnotes

  1. Joel 2:1 tn The word translated “trumpet” here (so most English versions) is the Hebrew שׁוֹפָר (shofar). The shophar was a wind instrument made from a cow or ram’s horn and used as a military instrument for calling people to attention in the face of danger or as a religious instrument for calling people to occasions of communal celebration.
  2. Joel 2:1 tn Or “for.”
  3. Joel 2:1 sn The interpretation of 2:1-11 is very difficult. Four views may be mentioned here. (1) Some commentators understand this section to be describing a human invasion of Judah on the part of an ancient army. The exact identity of this army (e.g., Assyrian or Babylonian) varies among interpreters depending upon issues of dating for the book of Joel. (2) Some commentators take the section to describe an eschatological scene in which the army according to some is human, or according to others is nonhuman (i.e., angelic). (3) Some interpreters argue for taking the section to refer to the potential advent in the fall season of a severe east wind (i.e., Sirocco) that would further exacerbate the conditions of the land described in chapter one. (4) Finally, some interpreters understand the section to continue the discussion of locust invasion and drought described in chapter one, partly on the basis that there is no clear exegetical evidence in 2:1-11 to suggest a shift of referent from that of chapter one.
  4. Joel 2:2 tn The phrase “It will be” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of smoothness and style.
  5. Joel 2:2 tn Heb “darkness and gloom.” These two terms probably form a hendiadys here. This picture recalls the imagery of the supernatural darkness in Egypt during the judgments of the exodus (Exod 10:22). These terms are also frequently used as figures (metonymy of association) for calamity and divine judgment (Isa 8:22; 59:9; Jer 23:12; Zeph 1:15). Darkness is often a figure (metonymy of association) for death, dread, distress and judgment (BDB 365 s.v. חשֶׁךְ 3).
  6. Joel 2:2 tn Heb “a day of cloud and darkness.”
  7. Joel 2:2 tc The present translation here follows the proposed reading שְׁחֹר (shekhor, “blackness”) rather than the MT שַׁחַר (shakhar, “morning”). The change affects only the vocalization; the Hebrew consonants remain unchanged. Here the context calls for a word describing darkness. The idea of morning or dawn speaks instead of approaching light, which does not seem to fit here. The other words in the verse (e.g., “darkness,” “gloominess,” “cloud,” “heavy overcast”) all emphasize the negative aspects of the matter at hand and lead the reader to expect a word like “blackness” rather than “dawn.” However, NIrV paraphrases the MT nicely: “A huge army of locusts is coming. They will spread across the mountains like the sun when it rises.”
  8. Joel 2:2 tn Heb “A huge and powerful people”; cf. KJV, ASV “a great people and a strong.” Many interpreters understand Joel 2 to describe an invasion of human armies, whether in Joel’s past or near future (e.g., the Babylonian invasion of Palestine in the sixth century b.c., depending on the dating of the book), or in an eschatological setting. Others view the language of this chapter referring to “people” and “armies” as a metaphorical description of the locusts of chapter one (cf. TEV “The great army of locusts advances like darkness”). Typically, “day of the Lord” language relates to a future event, so the present-tense language of chapter 1 may look ahead.
  9. Joel 2:2 tn Heb “it will not be repeated for years of generation and generation.”
  10. Joel 2:3 tn Heb “a fire devours before it.”
  11. Joel 2:3 tn Heb “like the garden of Eden, the land is before them.” Gen 2:8-9 is clear that Eden is more of an orchard (“all kinds of trees”), but the translation retains “Garden of Eden” here because the phrase has now become a metaphor for the bounty, beauty, and fertility of the land, and as such is much more familiar to modern readers.
  12. Joel 2:3 tn Heb “and surely a survivor there is not for it.” The antecedent of the pronoun “it” is apparently עַם (ʿam, “people”) of v. 2, which seems to be a figurative way of referring to the locusts and describes ants and rock badgers in Prov 30:25-26. K&D 26:191-92 thought that the antecedent of this pronoun was “land,” but the masculine gender of the pronoun does not support this.
  13. Joel 2:4 tn Heb “Like the appearance of horses [is] its appearance.”sn The fact that a locust’s head resembles a miniature replica of a horse’s head has often been noticed. For example, the German word for locust (Heupferd, “hay horse”) and the Italian word as well (cavaletta, “little horse”) are based on this similarity in appearance.
  14. Joel 2:5 tn Heb “like the sound of.”sn The repetition of the word of comparison (“like”) in vv. 4-7 should not go unnoticed. The author is comparing the locust invasion to familiar aspects of human invasion. If the preposition has its normal force here, it is similarity and not identity that is intended. In other words, locusts are being likened to human armies, but human armies are not actually present. On the other hand, this Hebrew preposition is also on occasion used to indicate exactitude, a function described by grammarians as kaph veritatis.
  15. Joel 2:5 tn Heb “jostling” or “leaping.” There is question whether this pictures chariots rumbling over the mountains (e.g., 2 Sam 6:14, 16; 1 Chr 15:29; Nah 3:2) or the locusts flying—or “leaping”—over the mountains (e.g., Job 21:11); see BDB 955 s.v. רָקַד.
  16. Joel 2:5 tn Heb “sound.”
  17. Joel 2:5 tn The phrase “the noise of” does not appear in the Hebrew, but is implied by the parallelism, so it has been supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
  18. Joel 2:5 tn Heb “people.”
  19. Joel 2:5 tn Heb “being arrayed of battle.”
  20. Joel 2:6 tn Or “nations.”
  21. Joel 2:6 tn Heb “before it.”
  22. Joel 2:6 tn Heb “all faces gather beauty”; or “all faces gather a glow.” The Hebrew word פָּארוּר (paʾrur) is found in the OT only here and in Nah 2:11. Its meaning is very uncertain. Some scholars associate it with a root that signifies “glowing”; hence, “all faces gather a glow of dread.” Others associate the word with פָּרוּר (parur, “pot”); hence, “all faces gather blackness.” Still others take the root to signify “beauty”; hence, “all faces gather in their beauty,” in the sense of growing pale due to fear. This is the view assumed here.
  23. Joel 2:7 sn Since the invaders are compared to warriors, this suggests that they are not actually human but instead an army of locusts.
  24. Joel 2:7 tn Heb “run.”
  25. Joel 2:7 tn Heb “men of battle.”
  26. Joel 2:7 tc The translation reads יְעַבְּתוּן (yeʿabbetun) for MT יְעַבְּטוּן (yeʿabbetun). The verb found in MT (עָבַט, ʿavat) means “take or give a pledge” (cf. Deut 15:6, 8; 24:10) and does not fit the context. Some scholars have proposed various emendations: (1) יְעַוְּתוּן (yeʿavvetun, “they make crooked”); (2) יָטּוּן (yattun, “they turn aside”); (3) יָעַוּוּן (yaʿavvun, “they err”); and (4) יְעַבְּתוּן (adopted in the present translation) from the root I עָבַת (ʿavat, “to twist, pervert”) or II עָבַת (ʿavat, “to change, abandon”). KBL adopt the latter option, but the only biblical evidence for this is the problematic reference in Joel 2:7. Another option is to view it as a variant of the root חבט (khavat, “turn aside from”), a meaning attested for the Arabic cognate. The difference in spelling would be due to the interchange of the guttural letters khet (ח) and ayin (ע). This may lay behind LXX rendering ἐκκλίνωσιν (ekklinōsin; cf. Syriac Peshitta: nstwn and Vg: declinabunt). See S. F. Whitley, “ʿbt in Joel 2, 7, ” Bib 65 (1984): 101-2.
  27. Joel 2:8 tn “each one does not crowd his brother.”
  28. Joel 2:8 tn Heb “each warrior walks in his own course.”
  29. Joel 2:8 tn Heb “they fall upon.” This line has been interpreted in two different ways: (1) although they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded (KJV), or (2) when they “burst through” the city’s defenses, they will not break ranks (RSV, NASB, NIV, NIrV).
  30. Joel 2:8 tn Heb “missile” or “javelin.” This term appears to function as a synecdoche for the city’s defenses as a whole (cf. NASB, NIV, TEV). Some scholars instead understand the reference to be an aqueduct by which the locusts (or armies) entered the city.
  31. Joel 2:9 tn Heb “dart about in.”
  32. Joel 2:9 tn Or “they run upon its wall.”
  33. Joel 2:10 sn Witnesses of locust invasions have described the visual effect of large numbers of these creatures crawling over one another on the ground. At such times the ground is said to appear to be in motion, creating a dizzying effect on some observers. The reference in v. 10 to the darkening of the sun and moon probably has to do with the obscuring of visibility due to large numbers of locusts swarming in the sky.
  34. Joel 2:10 tn Heb “before it.”
  35. Joel 2:10 tn Heb “trembles.”
  36. Joel 2:10 tn Heb “gather their brightness.”
  37. Joel 2:11 tn Heb “the Lord gives his voice.”
  38. Joel 2:11 tn Heb “before his army.”
  39. Joel 2:11 tn Heb “military encampment.”
  40. Joel 2:11 tn Heb “very large.”
  41. Joel 2:11 tn Heb “he makes his word powerful.”
  42. Joel 2:11 tn Or “powerful.” Heb “great.”
  43. Joel 2:11 tn Heb “endure.” The MT and LXX read, “endure,” while one of the Qumran manuscripts (4QXXIIc) has, “bear.”
  44. Joel 2:13 sn The figurative language calls for genuine repentance and not merely external ritual that goes through the motions.
  45. Joel 2:13 tn Heb “and great of loyal love.”
  46. Joel 2:13 tn Heb “and he relents from calamity.”
  47. Joel 2:14 tn Heb “turn” or “turn back.”
  48. Joel 2:14 tn Heb “leave a blessing behind him.”
  49. Joel 2:14 tn The phrase “for you to offer” does not appear in the Hebrew but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
  50. Joel 2:15 tn See the note on this term in 2:1.
  51. Joel 2:16 sn Mosaic law allowed men recently married, or about to be married, to be exempt for a year from certain duties that were normally mandatory, such as military obligation (cf. Deut 20:7; 24:5). However, Joel pictures a time of such urgency that normal expectations must give way to higher requirements.
  52. Joel 2:17 tn Heb “between the vestibule and the altar.” The vestibule was located at the entrance of the temple, and the altar was located at the other end of the building. So “between the vestibule and the altar” is a merism referring to the entire structure. The priestly lament permeates the entire house of worship.
  53. Joel 2:17 tn For the MT reading לִמְשָׁל (limshol, an infinitive, “to rule”), one should probably instead read לְמָשָׁל (lemashal, a noun, “to a byword”). While the consonantal Hebrew text permits either, the context suggests that the concern here is more a fear of abandonment by God to ongoing economic depression than a fear of the potential political subjugation of Israel (cf. v. 19). The possibility that the form in the MT is an infinitive construct of the denominative verb II מָשַׁל (mashal, “to utter a proverb”) does not seem likely because of the following preposition (Hebrew בְּ [be], rather than עַל [’al]).
  54. Joel 2:17 tn Heb “Why will they say?”
  55. Joel 2:18 tn The time-frame entertained by the verbs of v. 18 constitutes a crux interpretum in this chapter. The Hebrew verb forms used here are preterites with vav consecutive and are most naturally understood as describing a past situation. However, some modern English versions render these verbs as futures (e.g., NIV, NASB), apparently concluding that the context requires a future reference. According to Joüon 2:363 §112.h, n.1 Ibn Ezra explained the verbs of Joel 2:18 as an extension of the so-called prophetic perfect; as such, a future fulfillment was described with a past tense as a rhetorical device lending certainty to the fulfillment. But this lacks adequate precedent and is very unlikely from a syntactical standpoint. It seems better to take the verbs in the normal past sense of the preterite. This would require a vantage point for the prophet at some time after the people had responded favorably to the Lord’s call for repentance and after the Lord had shown compassion and forgiveness toward his people, but before the full realization of God’s promises to restore productivity to the land. In other words, it appears from the verbs of vv. 18-19 that at the time of Joel’s writing this book the events of successive waves of locust invasion and conditions of drought had almost run their course and the people had now begun to turn to the Lord.
  56. Joel 2:19 tn Heb “answered and said.”
  57. Joel 2:19 tn Heb “Look! I am sending grain to you.” The participle used in the Hebrew text seems to suggest imminent action.
  58. Joel 2:19 tc One of the Qumran manuscripts (4QXXIIc) inserts “and you will eat” before “and you will be fully satisfied,” the latter phrase being the reading of the MT and LXX.
  59. Joel 2:20 sn The allusion to the one from the north is best understood as having locusts in view. It is not correct to say that this reference to the enemy who came form the north excludes the possibility of a reference to locusts and must be understood as human armies. Although locust plagues usually approached Palestine from the east or southeast, the severe plague of 1915, for example, came from the northeast.
  60. Joel 2:20 tn Heb “his face to the eastern sea.” In this context the eastern sea is probably the Dead Sea.
  61. Joel 2:20 tn Heb “and his rear to the western sea.” The western sea refers to the Mediterranean Sea.
  62. Joel 2:20 sn Heb “and his foul smell will ascend.” The foul smell probably refers to the unpleasant odor of decayed masses of dead locusts. The Hebrew word for “foul smell” is found only here in the Old Testament. The Hebrew word for “stench” appears only here and in Isa 34:3 and Amos 4:10. In the latter references it refers to the stench of dead corpses on a field of battle.
  63. Joel 2:20 tn The Hebrew text does not have “the Lord.” Two interpretations are possible. This clause may refer to the enemy described in the immediately preceding verses, in which case it would have a negative sense: “he has acted in a high-handed manner.” Or it may refer to the Lord, in which case it would have a positive sense: “the Lord has acted in a marvelous manner.” This is clearly the sense of the same expression in v. 21, where in fact “the Lord” appears as the subject of the verb. It seems best to understand the clause the same way in both verses.
  64. Joel 2:22 tn Heb “beasts of the field.”
  65. Joel 2:22 tn Heb “their strength.” The trees and vines will produce a maximum harvest, in contrast to the failed agricultural conditions previously described.
  66. Joel 2:23 tn Heb “sons of Zion.”
  67. Joel 2:23 tn Heb “be glad in the Lord your God.”
  68. Joel 2:23 tn Normally the Hebrew word הַמּוֹרֶה (hammoreh) means “the teacher,” but here and in Ps 84:7 it refers to “early rains.” Elsewhere the word for “early rains” is יוֹרֶה (yoreh). The phrase here הַמּוֹרֶה לִצְדָקָה (hammoreh litsdaqah) is similar to the expression “teacher of righteousness” (Heb., מוֹרֶה הַצֶּדֶק, moreh hatsedeq) found in the Dead Sea Scrolls referring to a particular charismatic leader, although the Qumran community seems not to have invoked this text in support of that notion.
  69. Joel 2:23 tn Heb “caused to come down.”
  70. Joel 2:23 sn For half the year Palestine is generally dry. The rainy season begins with the early rains usually in late October to early December, followed by the latter rains in March and April. Without these rains productive farming would not be possible, as Joel’s original readers knew only too well.
  71. Joel 2:25 tn Heb “I will restore to you the years.”sn The plural years suggests that the plague to which Joel refers was not limited to a single season. Apparently the locusts were a major problem over several successive years. One season of drought and locust invasion would have been bad enough. Several such years would have been devastating.
  72. Joel 2:25 sn The same four terms for locust are used here as in 1:4, but in a different order. This fact creates some difficulty for the notion that the four words refer to four distinct stages of locust development.
  73. Joel 2:25 tn The term “your crops” does not appear in the Hebrew but has been supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity and smoothness.
  74. Joel 2:25 sn Here Joel employs military language to describe the locusts. In the prophet’s thinking this invasion was far from being a freak accident. Rather, the Lord is pictured here as a divine warrior who leads his army into the land as a punishment for past sin and as a means of bringing about spiritual renewal on the part of the people.
  75. Joel 2:26 tn Heb “you will surely eat and be satisfied.”
  76. Joel 2:28 sn Beginning with 2:28, the verse numbers through 3:21 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 2:28 ET = 3:1 HT, 2:29 ET = 3:2 HT, 2:30 ET = 3:3 HT, 2:31 ET = 3:4 HT, 2:32 ET = 3:5 HT, 3:1 ET = 4:1 HT, etc., through 3:21 ET = 4:21 HT. Thus Joel in the Hebrew Bible has 4 chapters, the 5 verses of ch. 3 being included at the end of ch. 2 in the English Bible.
  77. Joel 2:28 tn Heb “Now it will be after this.”
  78. Joel 2:28 sn This passage plays a key role in the apostolic explanation of the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost recorded in Acts 2:17-21. Peter introduces his quotation of this passage with “this is that spoken by the prophet Joel” (Acts 2:16; cf. the similar pesher formula used at Qumran). The New Testament events at Pentecost are thus seen in some sense as a fulfillment of this Old Testament passage, even though that experience did not exhaustively fulfill Joel’s words. Some portions of Joel’s prophecy have no precise counterpart in that experience. For example, there is nothing in the events recorded in Acts 2 that exactly corresponds to the earthly and heavenly signs described in Joel 3:3-4. But inasmuch as the messianic age had already begun and the “last days” had already commenced with the coming of the Messiah (cf. Heb 1:1-2), Peter was able to point to Joel 3:1-5 as a text that was relevant to the advent of Jesus and the bestowal of the Spirit. The equative language that Peter employs (“this is that”) stresses an incipient fulfillment of the Joel passage without precluding or minimizing a yet future and more exhaustive fulfillment in events associated with the return of Christ.
  79. Joel 2:28 tn Heb “all flesh.” As a term for humanity, “flesh” suggests the weakness and fragility of human beings as opposed to God, who is “spirit.” The word “all” refers not to all human beings without exception (cf. NAB, NASB “all mankind,” NLT “all people”), but to all classes of human beings without distinction (cf. NCV).
  80. Joel 2:28 tn Heb “your old men will dream dreams.” In context these are prophetic visions, messages from God, as are the visions mentioned in the next line.
  81. Joel 2:30 tn Or “in the heavens.” The Hebrew term שָׁמַיִם (shamayim) may be translated “heavens” or “sky,” depending on the context.
  82. Joel 2:31 tn Heb “to blood,” but no doubt this is intended to indicate by metonymy the color of blood rather than the substance itself. The blood-red color suggests a visual impression here—something that could be caused by fires, volcanic dust, sandstorms, or other atmospheric phenomena.
  83. Joel 2:32 tn Or “escape.” The Hebrew form may be passive or middle. While a number of English versions render this as “saved” (e.g., NIV, NRSV, NLT), this can suggest a “spiritual” or “theological” salvation rather than the physical deliverance from the cataclysmic events of the day of the Lord described in the context. The LXX renders as σωθήσεται (sōthēsetai), which is traditionally rendered as “will be saved.”
  84. Joel 2:32 tn Heb “deliverance”; or “escape.” The abstract noun “deliverance” or “escape” probably functions here as an example of antimeria, referring to those who experience deliverance or escape with their lives: “escaped remnant” or “surviving remnant” (Gen 32:8; 45:7; Judg 21:17; 2 Kgs 19:30, 31; Isa 4:2; 10:20; 15:9; 37:31, 32; Ezek 14:22; Obad 1:17; Ezra 9:8, 13-15; Neh 1:2; 1 Chr 4:43; 2 Chr 30:6).
  85. Joel 2:32 tn Heb “and among the remnant.”
  86. Joel 2:32 tn The participle used in the Hebrew text seems to indicate action in the imminent future.
Next
Joel 1
Joel 3
Next
Previous Next

Jonah 1
New English Translation

Jonah Tries to Run from the Lord

1 The Lord’s message came[a] to Jonah son of Amittai,[b] 2 “Go immediately[c] to Nineveh,[d] that[e] large capital[f] city,[g] and announce judgment against[h] its people[i] because their wickedness[j] has come to my attention.”[k] 3 Instead, Jonah immediately[l] headed off to Tarshish[m] to escape[n] from the commission of the Lord.[o] He traveled[p] to Joppa[q] and found a merchant ship heading[r] to Tarshish.[s] So he paid the fare[t] and went aboard[u] it to go with them[v] to Tarshish,[w] far away from the Lord.[x] 4 But[y] the Lord hurled[z] a powerful[aa] wind on the sea. Such a violent[ab] tempest arose on the sea that[ac] the ship threatened to break up![ad] 5 The sailors were so afraid that each cried out[ae] to his own god[af] and they flung[ag] the ship’s cargo[ah] overboard[ai] to make the ship lighter.[aj] Jonah, meanwhile,[ak] had gone down into the hold[al] below deck,[am] had lain down, and was sound asleep.[an] 6 The ship’s captain approached him and said, “What are you doing asleep?[ao] Get up! Cry out[ap] to your god! Perhaps your god[aq] might take notice of us[ar] so that we might not die!” 7 The sailors said to one another,[as] “Come on, let’s cast lots[at] to find out[au] whose fault it is that this disaster has overtaken us.”[av] So they cast lots, and Jonah was singled out.[aw] 8 They said to him, “Tell us, whose fault[ax] is it that this disaster has overtaken us?[ay] What’s your occupation? Where do you come from? What’s your country? And who are your people?”[az] 9 He said to them, “I am a Hebrew, and I worship[ba] the Lord,[bb] the God of heaven,[bc] who made the sea and the dry land.” 10 Hearing this,[bd] the men became even more afraid[be] and said to him, “What have you done?” (The men said this because they knew that he was trying to escape[bf] from the Lord,[bg] because he had previously told them.[bh]) 11 Because the storm was growing worse and worse,[bi] they said to him, “What should we do to you so that the sea will calm down[bj] for us?” 12 He said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea so that the sea will calm down for you,[bk] because I know it’s my fault[bl] you are in this severe storm.” 13 Instead, they tried to row[bm] back to land,[bn] but they were not able to do so[bo] because the storm kept growing worse and worse.[bp] 14 So they cried out to the Lord, “Oh, please, Lord, don’t let us die on account of this man! Don’t hold us guilty of shedding innocent blood.[bq] After all, you, Lord, have done just as you pleased.”[br] 15 So they picked Jonah up and threw him into the sea, and the sea stopped raging. 16 The men feared the Lord[bs] greatly[bt] and earnestly vowed[bu] to offer lavish sacrifices[bv] to the Lord.[bw]

Jonah Prays

17 (2:1)[bx] The Lord sent[by] a huge[bz] fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the stomach of the fish three days and three nights.

Footnotes

  1. Jonah 1:1 tn The Targum (Aramaic translation) of Jonah 1:1 interprets the Hebrew as, “There was a word of prophecy from the Lord” (cf. Tg. Hos 1:1).
  2. Jonah 1:1 tn The infinitive לֵאמֹר (leʾmor, “saying”) introduces direct discourse and is untranslated in English.
  3. Jonah 1:2 tn Heb “Arise, go.” The two imperatives without an intervening vav (קוּם לֵךְ, qum lekh; “Arise, go!”), form a verbal hendiadys in which the first verb functions adverbially and the second retains its full verbal force: “Go immediately.” This construction emphasizes the urgency of the command. The translations “Go at once” (NRSV, NJPS) or simply “Go!” (NIV) are better than the traditional “Arise, go” (KJV, NKJV, ASV, RSV, NASB) or “Get up and go” (NLT). For similar constructions with קוּם, see Gen 19:14-15; Judg 4:14; 8:20-21; 1 Sam 9:3.
  4. Jonah 1:2 sn Nineveh was the last capital city of ancient Assyria. Occupying about 1800 acres, it was located on the east bank of the Tigris River across from the modern city of Mosul, Iraq. The site includes two tels, Nebi Yunus and Kouyunjik, which have been excavated on several occasions. See A. H. Layard, Nineveh and Its Remains; R. C. Thompson and R. W. Hutchinson, A Century of Exploration at Nineveh; G. Waterfield, Layard of Nineveh. Preliminary reports of limited excavations in 1987 and 1989 appear in Mar Šipri 1:2 (1988): 1-2; 2:2 (1989): 1-2; 4:1 (1991): 1-3. Also see D. J. Wiseman, “Jonah’s Nineveh,” TynBul 30 (1979): 29-51.
  5. Jonah 1:2 tn Heb “the.” The article draws attention to a well-known fact and may function as a demonstrative pronoun: “that great city” (see IBHS 242 §13.5.1e).
  6. Jonah 1:2 tn Heb “great city.” The adjective גָּדוֹל (gadol, “great”) can refer to a wide variety of qualities: (1) size: “large,” (2) height: “tall,” (3) magnitude: “great,” (4) number: “populous,” (5) power: “mighty,” (6) influence: “powerful,” (8) significance: “important,” (7) finance: “wealthy,” (8) intensity: “fierce,” (9) sound: “loud,” (10) age: “oldest,” (11) importance: “distinguished,” and (12) position: “chief, leading, head” (HALOT 177-78 s.v. גָּדוֹל; BDB 152-53 s.v. גָּדוֹל). The phrase עִיר־גְּדוֹלָה (’ir gedolah, “city”) may designate a city that is (1) large in size (Josh 10:2; Neh 4:7) or (2) great in power: (a) important city-state (Gen 10:12) or (b) prominent capital city (Jer 22:8). The phrase עִיר־גְּדוֹלָה (both with and without the article) is used four times in Jonah (1:2; 3:2, 3; 4:11). This phrase is twice qualified by a statement about its immense dimensions (3:3) or large population (4:11), so גָּדוֹל might denote size. However, size is not the issue in 1:2. At this time in history, Nineveh was the most powerful city in the ancient Near East as the capital of the mighty Neo-Assyrian Empire. It is likely that עִיר־גְּדוֹלָה here is the Hebrew equivalent of the Assyrian ālu rabu (“the important city” = capital city of the empire), just as מַלְכִּי רַב (malki rav, “great king”; Hos 5:13; 10:6) is the equivalent of the Assyrian malku rabu (“great king” = ruler of the empire; D. Stuart, Hosea-Jonah [WBC], 448). Perhaps the closest West Semitic parallel to הָעִיר הָגְּדוֹלָה (haʿir haggedolah) is in an Amarna letter from King Abimilki of Tyre to Amenhotep IV: “Behold, I protect Tyre, the capital city (uruSurri uru rabitu) for the king my lord” (EA 147:61-63). Hebrew constructions in which a determined noun is modified by the determined adjective הָגְּדוֹלָה (“the great…”) often denote singular, unique greatness, e.g., הַנָּהָר הָגָּדֹל (hannahar haggadol, “the great river”) = the Euphrates (Deut 1:7); הַיָּם הַגָּדוֹל (hayyam haggadol, “the great sea”) = the Mediterranean (Josh 1:4); הַכֹּהֵן הַגָּדוֹל (hakkohen haggadol, “the great priest”) = the chief priest (Lev 21:10); and לָעִיר הַגְּדוֹלָה הַזֹּאת (laʿir haggedolah hazzo’t, “[to] this great city”) = this capital city (Jer 22:8). So הָעִיר הָגְּדוֹלָה may well connote “the capital city” here.
  7. Jonah 1:2 tn Heb “Nineveh, the great city.” The description “the great city” stands in apposition to “Nineveh.”
  8. Jonah 1:2 tn Heb “cry out against it.” The basic meaning of קָרָא (qaraʾ) is “to call out; to cry out; to shout out,” but here it is a technical term referring to what a prophet has to say: “to announce” (e.g., 1 Kgs 13:32; Isa 40:2, 6; Jer 3:12; see HALOT 1129 s.v. קרא 8). When used with the preposition עַל (ʿal, “against” [in a hostile sense]; 826 s.v. עַל 5.a), it refers to an oracle announcing or threatening judgment (e.g., 1 Kgs 13:2, 4, 32; BDB 895 s.v. עַל 3.a). This nuance is reflected in several English versions: “Announce my judgment against it” (NLT) and “proclaim judgment upon it” (JPS, NJPS). Other translations are less precise: “cry out against it” (KJV, NKJV, ASV, NASB, RSV, NRSV) and “denounce it” (NEB, REB). Some are even misleading: “preach against it” (NAB, NIV) and “preach in it” (Douay). Tg. Jonah 1:2 nuances this interpretively as “prophesy against.”
  9. Jonah 1:2 tn Heb “it.” The pronoun functions as a synecdoche of container for contents, referring to the people of Nineveh.
  10. Jonah 1:2 sn The term wickedness is personified here; it is pictured as ascending heavenward into the very presence of God. This figuratively depicts how God became aware of their evil—it had ascended into heaven right into his presence.
  11. Jonah 1:2 tn Heb “has come up before me.” The term לְפָנָי (lefanay, “before me”) often connotes “in the full cognitive knowledge of” or “in the full mental view” of someone (BDB 817 s.v. פָּנֶה II.4.a.[c]; e.g., Gen 6:13; Isa 65:6; Jer 2:22; Lam 1:22). The use of the verb עָלָה (ʿalah, “to ascend”) complements this idea; it is sometimes used to describe actions or situations on earth that have “come up” into heaven to God’s attention, so to speak (e.g., Exod 2:23; 1 Sam 5:12; 2 Kgs 19:28; Ps 74:23; Isa 37:29; Jer 14:2; see BDB 749 s.v. עָלָה 8). The point is that God was fully aware of the evil of the Ninevites.
  12. Jonah 1:3 tn Heb “he arose to flee.” The phrase וַיָּקָם לִבְרֹחַ (vayyaqam livroakh, “he arose to flee”) is a wordplay on the Lord’s command (קוּם לֵךְ, qum lekh; “Arise! Go!”) in v. 2. By repeating the first verb קוּם the narrator sets up the reader to expect that Jonah was intending to obey God. But Jonah did not “arise to go” to Nineveh; he “arose to flee” to Tarshish. Jonah looks as though he was about to obey, but he does not. This unexpected turn of events creates strong irony. The narrator does not reveal Jonah’s motivation to the reader at this point. He delays this revelation for rhetorical effect until 4:2-3.
  13. Jonah 1:3 tn The place name תַּרְשִׁישׁ (tarshish, “Tarshish”) refers to a distant port city or region (Isa 23:6; Jer 10:9; Ezek 27:12; 38:13; 2 Chr 9:21; 20:36, 37) located on the coastlands in the Mediterranean west of Palestine (Ps 72:10; Isa 23:6, 10; 66:19; Jonah 1:3; see BDB 1076 s.v. תַּרְשִׁישׁ; HALOT 1798 s.v. תַּרְשִׁישׁ E.a). Scholars have not established its actual location (HALOT 1797 s.v. B). It has been variously identified with Tartessos in southwest Spain (Herodotus, Histories 1.163; 4.152; cf. Gen 10:4), Carthage (LXX of Isa 23:1, 14 and Ezek 27:25), and Sardinia (F. M. Cross, “An Interpretation of the Nora Stone,” BASOR 208 [1972]: 13-19). The ancient versions handle it variously. The LXX identifies תַּרְשִׁישׁ with Carthage/Καρχηδών (karchēdōn; Isa 23:1, 6, 10, 14; Ezek 27:12; 38:13). The place name תַּרְשִׁישׁ is rendered “Africa” in the Targums in some passages (Tg. 1 Kgs 10:22; 22:49; Tg. Jer 10:9) and elsewhere as “sea” (Isa 2:16; 23:1, 14; 50:9; 66:19; Ezek 27:12, 25; 38:13; Jonah 4:2). The Jewish Midrash Canticles Rabbah 5:14.2 cites Jonah 1:3 as support for the view that Tarshish = “the Great Sea” (the Mediterranean). It is possible that תַּרְשִׁישׁ does not refer to one specific port but is a general term for the distant Mediterranean coastlands (Ps 72:10; Isa 23:6, 10; 66:19). In some cases it seems to mean simply “the open sea”: (1) the Tg. Jonah 1:3 translates תַּרְשִׁישׁ as “[he arose to flee] to the sea”; (2) Jerome’s commentary on Isa 2:16 states that Hebrew scholars in his age defined תַּרְשִׁישׁ as “sea”; and (3) the gem called II תַּרְשִׁישׁ, “topaz” (BDB 1076 s.v.; HALOT 1798 s.v.), in Exod 28:20 and 39:13 is rendered “the color of the sea” in Tg. Onq. (see D. Stuart, Hosea-Jonah [WBC], 451). The designation אֳנִיּוֹת תַּרְשִׁישׁ (ʾoniyyot tarshish, “Tarshish-ships”) referred to large oceangoing vessels equipped for the high seas (2 Chr 9:21; Ps 48:8; Isa 2:16; 23:1, 14; 60:9; Ezek 27:25) or large merchant ships designed for international trade (1 Kgs 10:22; 22:49; 2 Chr 9:21; 20:36; Isa 23:10; HALOT 1798 s.v. E.b). The term תַּרְשִׁישׁ is derived from the Iberian tart[uli] with the Anatolian suffix —issos/essos, resulting in Tartessos (BRL2 332a); however, the etymological meaning of תַּרְשִׁישׁ is uncertain (see W. F. Albright, “New Light on the Early History of Phoenician Colonization,” BASOR 83 [1941]: 21-22 and note 29; HALOT 1797 s.v. I תַּרְשִׁישׁ A). The name תַּרְשִׁישׁ appears in sources outside the Hebrew Bible in Neo-Assyrian kurTar-si-si (R. Borger, Die Inschriften Asarhaddons [AfO], 86, §57 line 10) and Greek Ταρτησσος (tartēssos; HALOT 1797 s.v. C). Most English versions render תַּרְשִׁישׁ as “Tarshish” (KJV, NKJV, ASV, NASB, RSV, NRSV, NIV, NEB, NJB, JPS, NJPS), but TEV and CEV render it more generally as “to Spain.” NLT emphasizes the rhetorical point: “in the opposite direction,” though “Tarshish” is mentioned later in the verse.
  14. Jonah 1:3 tn Heb “Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish away from the Lord.”
  15. Jonah 1:3 tn Heb “away from the presence of the Lord.” The term מִלִּפְנֵי (millifne, “away from the presence of”) is composed of the preposition לְפָנָי (lefanay, “in front of, before the presence of”) and מִן (min, “away from”). The term מִלִּפְנֵי is used with בָּרַח (barakh, “to flee”) only here in biblical Hebrew, so it is difficult to determine its exact meaning (HALOT 942 s.v. פָּנֶה 4.h.ii; see E. Jenni, “‘Fliehen’ im akkadischen und im hebräischen Sprachgebrauch,” Or 47 [1978]: 357). There are four most likely options. First, Jonah simply fled from the Lord’s presence manifested in the temple (for mention of the temple elsewhere in Jonah, see 2:5, 8). This is reflected in Jerome’s rendering fugeret in Tharsis a facie Domini (“he fled to Tarshish away from the face/presence of the Lord”). The term מִלִּפְנֵי is used in this sense with יָצָא (yatsaʾ, “to go out”) to depict someone or something physically leaving the manifested presence of the Lord (Lev 9:24; Num 17:11 HT [16:46 ET]; 17:24 [17:9 ET]; cf. Gen 4:16). This is reflected in several English versions: “from the presence of the Lord” (KJV, NKJV, RSV, NRSV, ASV, NASB) and “out of the reach of the Lord” (REB). Second, Jonah was fleeing to a distant place outside the land of Israel (D. Stuart, Hosea-Jonah [WBC], 450). The term לְפָנָי is used in various constructions with מִן to describe locations outside the land of Israel where Yahweh was not worshiped (1 Sam 26:19-20; 2 Kgs 13:23; 17:20, 23; Jer 23:39). This would be the equivalent of a self-imposed exile. Third, the term מִלִּפְנֵי can mean “out of sight” (Gen 23:4, 8), so perhaps Jonah was trying to escape from the Lord’s active awareness—out of the Lord’s sight. The idea would either be an anthropomorphism (standing for a distance out of the sight of God), or it would reflect an inadequate theology of the limited omniscience and presence of God. This is reflected in some English versions: “ran away from the Lord” (NIV), “running away from Yahweh” (NJB), “to get away from the Lord” (NLT), “to escape from the Lord” (NEB) and “to escape” (CEV). Fourth, the term לְפָנָי can mean “in front of someone in power” (Gen 43:33; HALOT 942 s.v. c.i) and “at the disposal of” a king (Gen 13:9; 24:51; 34:10; 2 Chr 14:6; Jer 40:4; HALOT 942 s.v. 4.f). The expression would be a metonymy: Jonah was trying to escape from his commission (effect) ordered by God (cause). This is reflected in several English versions: “to flee from the Lord’s service” (JPS, NJPS). Jonah confesses in 4:2-3 that he fled to avoid carrying out his commission—lest God relent from judging Nineveh if its populace might repent. But it is also clear in chs. 1-2 that Jonah could not escape from the Lord himself.sn Three times in chap. 1 (in vv. 3 and 10) Jonah’s voyage is described as an attempt to escape away from the Lord—from the Lord’s presence (and therefore his active awareness; compare v. 2). On one level, Jonah was attempting to avoid a disagreeable task, but the narrator’s description personalizes Jonah’s rejection of the task. Jonah’s issue is with the Lord himself, not just his commission. The narrator’s description is also highly ironic, as the rest of the book shows. Jonah tries to sail to Tarshish, in the opposite direction from Nineveh, as if by doing that he could escape from the Lord, when the Lord is the one who knows all about Nineveh’s wickedness and is involved in all that happens to Jonah throughout the book. Compare Jonah’s explanation when talking with the Lord (see 4:2).
  16. Jonah 1:3 tn Heb “he went down.” The verb יָרַד (yarad, “to go down”) can refer to a journey that is physically downhill. This suggests that Jonah had started out from Jerusalem, which is at a higher elevation. He probably received his commission in the temple (see 2:4, 7 for mention of the temple). sn The verb יָרַד (yarad, “to go down”) is repeated four times in chs. 1-2 for rhetorical effect (1:3a, 3b, 5; 2:7). Jonah’s “downward” journey from Jerusalem down to Joppa (1:3a) down into the ship (1:3b) down into the cargo hold (1:5) and ultimately down into the bottom of the sea, pictured as down to the very gates of the netherworld (2:7), does not end until he turns back to God who brings him “up” from the brink of death (2:6-7).
  17. Jonah 1:3 sn Joppa was a small harbor town on the Palestinian coast known as Yepu in the Amarna Letters (14th century b.c.) and Yapu in Neo-Assyrian inscriptions (9th-8th centuries b.c.). It was a port through which imported goods could flow into the Levant (Josh 19:46; 2 Chr 2:15 [16]; Ezra 3:7). It was never annexed by Israel until the Maccabean period (ca. 148 b.c.; 1 Macc 10:76). Jonah chose a port where the people he would meet and the ships he could take were not likely to be Israelite. Once in Joppa he was already partly “away from the Lord” as he conceived it.
  18. Jonah 1:3 tn Heb “going to” (so KJV, NAB, NASB, NRSV); cf. NIV “bound for,” NLT “leaving for.”
  19. Jonah 1:3 tn See note on the phrase “to Tarshish” at the beginning of the verse.
  20. Jonah 1:3 tn Heb “its fare.” The third person feminine singular suffix on the noun probably functions as a genitive of worth or value: “the fare due it.” However, it is translated here simply as “the fare” for the sake of readability. On the other hand, “bought a ticket” (CEV, NLT) is somewhat overtranslated, since the expression “paid the fare” is still understandable to most English readers.
  21. Jonah 1:3 tn Heb “he went down into it.” The verb יָרַד (yarad, “to go down”) is repeated for rhetorical effect in v. 3a, 3b, 5. See note on the word “traveled” in v. 3a.
  22. Jonah 1:3 tn “Them” refers to the other passengers and sailors in the ship.
  23. Jonah 1:3 tn See note on the phrase “to Tarshish” at the beginning of the verse.
  24. Jonah 1:3 tn Heb “away from the presence of the Lord.” See note on the phrase “from the commission of the Lord” in v. 3a.
  25. Jonah 1:4 tn The disjunctive construction of vav + a non-verb then a verb (that is not preterite conjugation) marks a contrast in the narrative action.
  26. Jonah 1:4 tn The Hiphil of טוּל (tul, “to hurl”) is used here and several times in this episode for rhetorical emphasis (see vv. 5 and 15).
  27. Jonah 1:4 tn Heb “great.” Typically English versions vary the adjective here and before “tempest” to avoid redundancy: e.g., KJV, ASV, and NRSV “great…mighty”; NAB “violent…furious”; NIV “great…violent”; and NLT “powerful…violent.”
  28. Jonah 1:4 tn Heb “great.”
  29. Jonah 1:4 tn The nonconsecutive construction of vav + a non-verb then a perfect verb is used to emphasize this result clause.
  30. Jonah 1:4 tn Heb “the ship considered breaking apart.” The use of חָשַׁב (khashav, “think”) in the Piel (“to think about; to seriously consider”) personifies the ship to emphasize the ferocity of the storm. The lexicons render the clause idiomatically: “the ship was about to be broken up” (BDB 363 s.v. חָשַׁב 2; HALOT 360 s.v. חשׁב).
  31. Jonah 1:5 tn Heb “they cried out, each one.” The shift from the plural verb וַיִּזְעֲקוּ (vayyizʿaqu, “they cried out to”) to the singular subject אִישׁ (ʾish, “each one”) is a rhetorical device used to emphasize that each one of the sailors individually cried out. In contrast, Jonah slept.
  32. Jonah 1:5 tn Or “gods” (CEV, NLT). The plural noun אֱלֹהִים (ʾelohim) might be functioning either as a plural of number (“gods”) or a plural of majesty (“god”) – the form would allow for either. As members of a polytheistic culture, each sailor might appeal to several gods. However, individuals could also look to a particular god for help in trouble. Tg. Jonah 1:5 interpretively renders the line, “Each man prayed to his idols, but they saw that they were useless.”
  33. Jonah 1:5 tn Heb “hurled.” The Hiphil of טוּל (tul, “to hurl”) is again used, repeated from v. 4.
  34. Jonah 1:5 tn The plural word rendered “cargo” (כֵּלִים, kelim) is variously translated “articles, vessels, objects, baggage, instruments” (see 1 Sam 17:22; 1 Kgs 10:21; 1 Chr 15:16; Isa 18:2; Jer 22:7). As a general term, it fits here to describe the sailors throwing overboard whatever they could. The English word “cargo” should be taken generally to include the ship’s payload and whatever else could be dispensed with.
  35. Jonah 1:5 tn Heb “into the sea.”
  36. Jonah 1:5 tn Heb “to lighten it from them.”
  37. Jonah 1:5 tn Heb “but Jonah.” The disjunctive construction of vav + a non-verb then a perfect verb introduces a parenthetical description of Jonah’s earlier actions before the onset of the storm.
  38. Jonah 1:5 tn Or “stern.” There is some question whether the term יַרְכָה (yarkhah) refers to the ship’s hold below deck (R. S. Hess, NIDOTTE 3:282) or to the stern in the back of the ship (HALOT 439 s.v. *יְרֵכָה 2.b). This is the only use of this term in reference to a ship in biblical Hebrew. When used elsewhere, this term has a twofold range of meanings: (1) “rear,” such as rear of a building (Exod 26:22, 27; 36:27, 32; Ezek 46:19), back room of a house (1 Kgs 6:16; Ps 128:3; Amos 6:10), flank of a person’s body (figurative for rear border; Gen 49:13); and (2) “far part” that is remote, such as the back of a cave (1 Sam 24:4), the bottom of a cistern (Isa 14:15), the lower recesses of Sheol (Ezek 32:23), the remotest part of a mountain range (Judg 19:1, 18; 2 Kgs 19:23; Isa 37:24), the highest summit of a mountain (Ps 48:3), and the north – viewed as the remotest part of the earth (Isa 14:13; Ezek 38:6, 15; 39:2). So the term could refer to the “back” (stern) or “remote part” (lower cargo hold) of the ship. The related Akkadian expression arkat eleppi, “stern of a ship” (HALOT 439 s.v. 2.b) seems to suggest that יַרְכָה means “stern” (HALOT 439 s.v. 2.b). However, the preceding יָרַד אֶל (yarad ʾel, “he went down into”) suggests a location below deck. Also the genitive noun סְפִינָה (sefinah) refers to a “ship” with a deck (BDB 706 s.v. סְפִינָה; HALOT 764 s.v. סְפִינָה; R. S. Hess, NIDOTTE 3:282).
  39. Jonah 1:5 tn Or “of the ship.” The noun סְפִינָה (sefinah) refers to a “ship” with a deck (HALOT 764 s.v. סְפִינָה). The term is a hapax legomenon in Hebrew and is probably an Aramaic loanword. The term is used frequently in the related Semitic languages to refer to ships with multiple decks. Here the term probably functions as a synecdoche of whole for the part, referring to the “lower deck” rather than to the ship as a whole (R. S. Hess, NIDOTTE 3:282). An outdated approach related the noun to the verb סָפַן (safan, “to cover”) and suggested that סְפִינָה describes a ship covered with sheathing (BDB 706 s.v. סְפִינָה).
  40. Jonah 1:5 tn The a-class theme vowel of וַיֵּרָדַם (vayyeradam) indicates that this is a stative verb, describing the resultant condition of falling asleep: “was sound asleep.”
  41. Jonah 1:6 tn Heb “What to you sleeping?” The Niphal participle נִרְדָּם (nirdam) from רָדַם (radam, “to sleep”) functions here not as a vocative use of the noun (so KJV, NKJV, ASV “O sleeper”; RSV “you sleeper”) but as a verbal use to depict uninterrupted sleep up to this point. The expression מַה־לְּךָ (mah lekha, “what to you?”) can express surprise (BDB 552 s.v. מָה 1.a; e.g., Job 9:12; 22:12; Eccl 8:4; Isa 45:9, 10) or indignation and contempt (BDB 552 s.v. מָה 1.c; e.g., 1 Kgs 19:9, 13). Accordingly, the captain is either surprised that Jonah is able to sleep so soundly through the storm (NIV “How can you sleep?”; JPS, NJPS: “How can you be sleeping so soundly?”; NEB, REB “What, sound asleep?”), or he is indignant that Jonah would sleep in a life-threatening situation when he should be praying (CEV “How can you sleep at a time like this?”; NAB “What are you doing [+ sound NRSV] asleep?”; NJB “What do you mean by sleeping?”).
  42. Jonah 1:6 tn Heb “cry out” or “call upon.” The verb קָרָא (qaraʾ, “to call out, to cry out”) + the preposition אֶל (ʾel, “to”) often depicts a loud, audible cry of prayer to God for help in the midst of trouble: “to call on, to shout to” (HALOT 1129 s.v. קרא 9.b; BDB 895 s.v. קָרָא 2.a; e.g., Judg 15:18; 1 Sam 12:17, 18; 2 Sam 22:7; Hos 7:7; Pss 3:4 [5 HT]; 4:3 [4 HT]). Jonker notes, “The basic meaning of qrʾ is to draw attention to oneself by the audible use of one’s voice in order to establish contact with someone else. The reaction of the called person is normally expressed by the verbs…‘answer’ and…‘hear’” (L. Jonker, NIDOTTE 3:971).sn The imperatives “arise!” and “cry out!” are repeated from v. 2 for ironic effect. The captain’s words would have rung in Jonah’s ears as a stinging reminder that the Lord had uttered them once before. Jonah was hearing them again because he had disobeyed them before.
  43. Jonah 1:6 tn Heb “the god.” The article on הָאֱלֹהִים (haʾelohim) denotes previous reference to אֱלֹהֶיךָ (ʾelohekha, “your god”; see IBHS 242-43 §13.5.1d). The captain refers here to the “god” just mentioned, that is, whatever god Jonah might pray to (“your god”).
  44. Jonah 1:6 tn Or “give thought to us.” The verb is found only here in the OT. Related nouns are in Job 12:5 and Ps 146:4. The captain hopes for some favorable attention from a god who might act on behalf of his endangered crewmen.
  45. Jonah 1:7 tn Heb “And they said, a man to his companion.” The plural verb is individualized by “a man.”
  46. Jonah 1:7 sn The English word lots is a generic term. In some cultures the procedure for “casting lots” is to “draw straws” so that the person who receives the short straw is chosen. In other situations a colored stone or a designated playing card might be picked at random. In Jonah’s case, small stones were probably used.
  47. Jonah 1:7 sn In the ancient Near East, casting lots was a custom used to try to receive a revelation from the gods about a particular situation. The Phoenician sailors here cried out to their gods and cast lots in the hope that one of their gods might reveal the identity of the person with whom he was angry. The CEV has well captured the sentiment of v.7b: “‘Let’s ask our gods to show us who caused all this trouble.’ It turned out to be Jonah.”
  48. Jonah 1:7 tn Heb “On whose account this calamity is upon us.”
  49. Jonah 1:7 tn Heb “the lot fell on Jonah.” From their questions posed to Jonah, it does not appear that the sailors immediately realize that Jonah was the one responsible for the storm. Instead, they seem to think that he is the one chosen by their gods to reveal to them the one responsible for their plight. It is only after he admits in vv. 9-10 that he was fleeing from the God whom he served that they realize that Jonah was in fact the cause of their trouble.
  50. Jonah 1:8 sn Heb “on whose account.” Jonah and the sailors appear to show dialectical sensitivity to each other in how they say this. To each other, the Phoenician sailors say בְּשֶׁלְּמִי (beshellemi) in vs 7. To Jonah, they say ‏בַּאֲשֶׁר לְמִי (baʾasher lemi) in vs 8. But Jonah says בְּשֶׁלִּי (beshelli) to the sailors in vs 12. The two forms, including שֶׁ (she) vs. אֲשֶׁר (ʾasher) mean the same thing, but the form with שֶׁ is expected for the Phoenicians. אֲשֶׁר is far more common in Hebrew, while the more rare שֶׁ is often considered a northern or late feature when it occurs.
  51. Jonah 1:8 tn Heb “On whose account is this calamity upon us?”
  52. Jonah 1:8 tn Heb “And from what people are you?”sn Whose fault…What’s…Where…What’s… The questions delivered in rapid succession in this verse indicate the sailors’ urgency to learn quickly the reason for the unusual storm.
  53. Jonah 1:9 tn Or “fear.” The verb יָרֵא (yareʾ) has a broad range of meanings, including “to fear, to worship, to revere, to respect” (BDB 431 s.v.). When God is the object, it normally means “to fear” (leading to obedience; BDB 431 s.v. 1) or “to worship” (= to stand in awe of; BDB 431 s.v. 2). Because the fear of God leads to wisdom and obedience, that is probably not the sense here. Instead Jonah professes to be a loyal Yahwist—in contrast to the pagan Phoenician sailors who worshiped false gods, he worshiped the one true God. Unfortunately, his worship of the Lord lacked the necessary moral prerequisite.
  54. Jonah 1:9 tn Heb “The Lord, the God of heaven, I fear.” The Hebrew word order is unusual. Normally the verb appears first, but here the direct object, “the Lord, the God of heaven,” precedes the verb. Jonah emphasizes the object of his worship. In contrast to the Phoenician sailors who worship pagan polytheistic gods, Jonah took pride in his theological orthodoxy. Ironically, his “fear” of the Lord in this case was limited to this profession of theological orthodoxy, because his actions betrayed his refusal to truly “fear” God by obeying him.sn The word fear appears in v. 5, here in v. 9, and later in vv. 10 and 16. Except for this use in v. 9, every other use describes the sailors’ response (emotional fear prompting physical actions) to the storm or to the Lord. By contrast, Jonah claims to fear God, but his attitude and actions do not reflect this. It is clear that Jonah does not “fear” in the same way that they do.
  55. Jonah 1:9 tn Heb “the God of the heavens.” The noun שָׁמַיִם (shamayim, “heavens”) always appears in the dual form. Although the dual form sometimes refers to things that exist in pairs, the dual is often used to refer to geographical locations, e.g., יְרוּשָׁלַיִם (yerushalayim, “Jerusalem”), אֶפְרַיִם (ʾefrayim, “Ephraim”), and מִצְרַיִם (mitsrayim, “Egypt,” but see IBHS 118 §7.3d). The dual form of שָׁמַיִם does not refer to two different kinds of heavens or to two levels of heaven; it simply refers to “heaven” as a location—the dwelling place of God. Jonah’s point is that he worships the High God of heaven—the one enthroned over all creation.
  56. Jonah 1:10 tn Heb “Then the men feared…” The vav-consecutive describes the consequence of Jonah’s statement. The phrase “Hearing this” does not appear in the Hebrew text but is supplied in the translation for the sake of clarity.
  57. Jonah 1:10 tn Heb “The men feared a great fear.” The cognate accusative construction using the verb יָרֵא (yareʾ, “to fear”) and the noun יִרְאָה (yirʾah, “fear”) from the same root (ירא, yrʾ) emphasizes the sailors’ escalating fright: “they became very afraid” (see IBHS 167 §10.2.1g).
  58. Jonah 1:10 tn Heb “fleeing.”
  59. Jonah 1:10 sn The first two times that Jonah is said to be running away from the Lord (1:3), Hebrew word order puts this phrase last. Now in the third occurrence (1:10), it comes emphatically before the verb that describes Jonah’s action. The sailors were even more afraid once they had heard who it was that Jonah had offended.
  60. Jonah 1:10 tn Heb “because he had told them.” The verb הִגִּיד (higgid, “he had told”) functions as a past perfect, referring to a previous event.
  61. Jonah 1:11 tn Heb “the sea was going and storming.” The two participles הוֹלֵךְ וְסֹעֵר (holekh vesoʿer, “going and storming”) form an idiom that means “the storm was growing worse and worse.” When the participle הוֹלֵךְ precedes another participle with vav, it often denotes the idea of “growing, increasing” (BDB 233 s.v. הָלַךְ 4.d; e.g., Exod 19:19; 1 Sam 2:26; 2 Sam 3:1; 15:12; 2 Chr 17:12; Esth 9:4; Prov 4:18; Eccl 1:6). For example, “the power of David grew stronger and stronger (הֹלֵךְ וְחָזֵק, holekh vekhazeq; “was going and becoming strong”), while the dynasty of Saul grew weaker and weaker (הֹלְכִים וְדַלִּים, holekhim vedallim; “was going and becoming weak”)” (2 Sam 3:1; see IBHS 625-26 §37.6d).
  62. Jonah 1:11 tn The vav plus the imperfect conjugation verb וְיִשְׁתֹּק (veyishtoq, “to be quiet”) here denotes purpose/result (see IBHS 638-40 §38.3).
  63. Jonah 1:12 tn Heb “quiet for you”; cf. NAB “that it may quiet down for you.”
  64. Jonah 1:12 sn Heb “on my account.” Jonah and the sailors appear to show dialectical sensitivity to each other in how they say this. See the note at v. 8.
  65. Jonah 1:13 sn The word translated row is used in Ezekiel to describe digging through a wall (Ezek 8:8; 12:5, 7, 12). Its use in Jonah pictures the sailors digging into the water with their oars as hard as they could.
  66. Jonah 1:13 sn The word for land here is associated with a Hebrew verb meaning “to be dry” and is the same noun used in v. 9 of dry ground in contrast with the sea, both made by the Lord (see also Gen 1:9-10; Exod 4:9; 14:16, 22, 29; Jonah 2:10).
  67. Jonah 1:13 tn Heb “but they were not able.” The phrase “to do so” does not appear in the Hebrew text but is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  68. Jonah 1:13 tn Heb “the sea was going and storming.” See the note on the same idiom in v. 11.
  69. Jonah 1:14 tn Heb “Do not put against us innocent blood,” that is, “Do not assign innocent blood to our account.” It seems that the sailors were afraid that they would die if they kept Jonah in the ship and also that they might be punished with death if they threw him overboard.
  70. Jonah 1:14 tn Pss 115:3 and 135:6 likewise use these verbs (חָפֵץ and עָשָׂה, khafets and ʿasah; “to delight” and “to do, make”) in speaking of the Lord as characteristically doing what he wishes to do.
  71. Jonah 1:16 tc The editors of BHS suggest that the direct object אֶת־יְהוָה (ʾet-yehvah, “the Lord”) might be a scribal addition, and that the original text simply read, “The men became greatly afraid…” However, there is no shred of external evidence to support this conjectural emendation. Admittedly, the apparent “conversion” of these Phoenician sailors to Yahwism is a surprising development. But two literary features support the Hebrew text as it stands. First, it is not altogether clear whether or not the sailors actually converted to faith in the Lord. They might have simply incorporated him into their polytheistic religion. Second, the narrator has taken pains to portray the pagan sailors as a literary foil to Jonah by contrasting Jonah’s hypocritical profession to fear the Lord (v. 9) with the sailors’ actions that reveal an authentic fear of God (v. 10, 14, 16).
  72. Jonah 1:16 tn Heb “they feared the Lord with a great fear.” The root ירא (yrʾ, “fear”) is repeated in the verb and accusative noun, forming a cognate accusative construction that is used for emphasis (see IBHS 167 §10.2.1g). The idea is that they greatly feared the Lord or were terrified of him.
  73. Jonah 1:16 tn Heb “they vowed vows.” The root נדר (ndr, “vow”) is repeated in the verb and accusative noun, forming an emphatic effected accusative construction in which the verbal action produces the object specified by the accusative (see IBHS 166-67 §10.2.1f). Their act of vowing produced the vows. This construction is used to emphasize their earnestness and zeal in making vows to worship the God who had just spared their lives from certain death.
  74. Jonah 1:16 tn Heb “they sacrificed sacrifices.” The root זבח (zbkh, “sacrifice”) is repeated in the verb and accusative noun, forming an emphatic effected accusative construction in which the verbal action produces the object (see IBHS 166-67 §10.2.1f). Their act of sacrificing would produce the sacrifices. It is likely that the two sets of effected accusative constructions here (“they vowed vows and sacrificed sacrifices”) form a hendiadys; the two phrases connote one idea: “they earnestly vowed to sacrifice lavishly.” It is unlikely that they offered animal sacrifices at this exact moment on the boat—they had already thrown their cargo overboard, presumably leaving no animals to sacrifice. Instead, they probably vowed that they would sacrifice to the Lord when—and if—they reached dry ground. Tg. Jonah 1:16 also takes this as a vow to sacrifice but for a different reason. According to Jewish tradition, the heathen are not allowed to make sacrifice to the God of Israel outside Jerusalem, so the Targum modified the text by making it a promise to sacrifice: “they promised to offer a sacrifice before the Lord and they made vows” (see B. Levine, The Aramaic Version of Jonah, 70; K. Cathcart and R. Gordon, The Targum of the Minor Prophets [ArBib], 14:106, n. 29).
  75. Jonah 1:16 tn Heb “The men feared the Lord [with] a great fear, they sacrificed sacrifices, and they vowed vows” (cf. v. 10). By pairing verbs with related nouns as direct objects, the account draws attention to the sailors’ response and its thoroughness.
  76. Jonah 1:17 sn Beginning with 1:17, the verse numbers through 2:10 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 1:17 ET = 2:1 HT, 2:1 ET = 2:2 HT, etc., through 2:10 ET = 2:11 HT.
  77. Jonah 1:17 tn Or “appointed” (NASB); cf. NLT “had arranged for.” The Piel verb מִנָּה (minnah) means “to send, to appoint” (Ps 61:8; Jonah 2:1; 4:6-8; Dan 1:5, 10-11; HALOT 599 s.v. מנה 2; BDB 584 s.v. מָנָה). Joyce Baldwin notes, “Here, with YHWH as the subject, the verb stresses God’s sovereign rule over events for the accomplishment of his purpose (as in 4:6-8, where the verb recurs in each verse). The ‘great fish’ is in exactly the right place at the right time by God’s command, in order to swallow Jonah and enclose him safely” (Joyce Baldwin, “Jonah,” The Minor Prophets, 2:566).
  78. Jonah 1:17 tn Heb “great.”
Next
Obadiah 1
Jonah 2
Next
Previous Next

Amos 3
New English Translation

Every Effect has its Cause

3 Listen, you Israelites, to this message that the Lord is proclaiming against[a] you! This message is for the entire clan I brought up[b] from the land of Egypt:

2 “I have chosen[c] you alone from all the clans of the earth.
Therefore I will punish you for all your sins.”
3 Do two walk together without having met?[d]
4 Does a lion roar in the woods if he has not cornered his prey?[e]
Does a young lion bellow from his den if he has not caught something?
5 Does a bird swoop down into a trap on the ground if there is no bait?
Does a trap spring up from the ground unless it has surely caught something?
6 If an alarm sounds[f] in a city, do people not fear?[g]
If disaster overtakes a[h] city, is the Lord not responsible?[i]
7 Certainly the Sovereign Lord does nothing without first revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.
8 A lion has roared![j] Who is not afraid?
The Sovereign Lord has spoken. Who can refuse to prophesy?[k]

Samaria Will Fall

9 Make this announcement in[l] the fortresses of Ashdod
and in the fortresses in the land of Egypt.
Say this:
“Gather on the hills around Samaria![m]
Observe the many acts of violence[n] taking place within the city,[o]
the oppressive deeds[p] occurring in it.”[q]
10 “They do not know how to do what is right,” the Lord says.

“They store up[r] the spoils of destructive violence[s] in their fortresses.
11 Therefore,” says the Sovereign Lord, “an enemy will encircle the land.[t]
He will take away your power;[u]
your fortresses will be looted.”

12 This is what the Lord says:

“Just as a shepherd salvages from the lion’s mouth a couple of leg bones or a piece of an ear,
so the Israelites who live in Samaria will be salvaged.[v]
They will be left with just a corner of a bed,[w]
and a part[x] of a couch.
13 Listen and warn[y] the family[z] of Jacob!”[aa]
The Sovereign Lord, the God who commands armies,[ab] is speaking!
14 “Certainly when[ac] I punish Israel for their[ad] covenant transgressions,[ae]

I will destroy[af] Bethel’s altars.
The horns[ag] of the altar will be cut off and fall to the ground.
15 I will destroy both the winter and summer houses.[ah]
The houses filled with ivory[ai] will be ruined,
the great[aj] houses will be swept away.”[ak]
The Lord is speaking!

Footnotes

  1. Amos 3:1 tn Or “about.”
  2. Amos 3:1 tn One might expect a third person verb form (“he brought up”), since the Lord apparently refers to himself in the third person in the preceding sentence. This first person form, however, serves to connect this message to the earlier indictment (2:10) and anticipates the words of the following verse.
  3. Amos 3:2 tn Heb “You only have I known.” The Hebrew verb יָדַע (yadaʿ) is used here in its covenantal sense of “recognize in a special way.”
  4. Amos 3:3 sn The rhetorical questions in vv. 3-5 expect the answer, “No, of course not!” Those in v. 6 anticipate the answer, “Yes, of course they do/he is.” They all draw attention to the principle of cause and effect and lay the logical foundation for the argument in vv. 7-8. Also note the progression from a general question in v. 3 to the “meetings” of two animals (v. 4), to that of an animal and a human trap (v. 5), to a climax with the confrontation with the Lord (v. 6). Each of these meetings is disastrous.
  5. Amos 3:4 tn Heb “without having prey [or “food”].”
  6. Amos 3:6 tn Heb “If the ram’s horn is blown.”
  7. Amos 3:6 tn Or “tremble” (NASB, NIV, NCV); or “shake.”
  8. Amos 3:6 tn Heb “is in”; cf. NIV, NCV, NLT “comes to.”
  9. Amos 3:6 tn Heb “has the Lord not acted?”
  10. Amos 3:8 sn The roar of the lion is here a metaphor for impending judgment (see 1:2; cf. 3:4, 12). Verses 7-8 justify Amos’ prophetic ministry and message of warning and judgment. The people should expect a prophetic message prior to divine action.
  11. Amos 3:8 sn Who can refuse to prophesy? When a message is revealed, the prophet must speak, and the news of impending judgment should cause people to fear.
  12. Amos 3:9 tn Heb “on” or “over” (also later in this verse).
  13. Amos 3:9 sn Samaria might refer here both to the region and to the capital city (later known as Sebaste). On the other hand, there actually are hills that surround the mound upon which the city was built. The implication is that the nations can come and sit and see from those hills the sin of the capital city and its judgment.
  14. Amos 3:9 tn The Hebrew noun carries the nuance of “panic” or “confusion.” Here it refers metonymically to the violent deeds that terrorize the oppressed.
  15. Amos 3:9 tn Heb “in her midst” (so NAB, NASB); cf. NIV “among her people.”
  16. Amos 3:9 tn The translation assumes the form is an abstract plural (see Job 35:9; Eccl 4:1). Another option is to understand the form as a substantival passive participle and translate, “the oppressed” (so KJV).
  17. Amos 3:9 tn Heb “within her.”
  18. Amos 3:10 tn Heb “those who.”
  19. Amos 3:10 tn Heb “violence and destruction.” The expression “violence and destruction” stand metonymically for the goods the oppressors have accumulated by their unjust actions.
  20. Amos 3:11 tc The MT reads “an enemy and around the land.” It is also possible to take the MT as an exclamation (“an enemy, and all about the land!”; see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 118; NJPS; cf. NLT). Most scholars and versions emend the text to יְסוֹבֵב (yesovev, Polel imperfect), “will encircle.”
  21. Amos 3:11 tn Heb “He will bring down your power from you.” Some emend the text to read, “Your power will be brought down from you.” The shift, however, from an active to a passive sense also appears at 3:14 (“I will destroy Bethel’s altars. The horns of the altar will be cut off.”) The pronouns (“your…you”) are feminine singular, indicating that the personified city of Samaria is addressed here. Samaria’s “power” here is her defenses and/or wealth.
  22. Amos 3:12 sn The verb translated salvaged, though often used in a positive sense of deliverance from harm, is here employed in a sarcastic manner. A shepherd would attempt to salvage part of an animal to prove that a predator had indeed killed it. In this way he could prove that he had not stolen the missing animal and absolve himself from any responsibility to repay the owner (see Exod 22:12-13).
  23. Amos 3:12 tn Heb “with a corner of a bed.”
  24. Amos 3:12 tn The meaning of the Hebrew word דְּמֶשֶׁק (demesheq), which occurs only here, is uncertain. If not emended, it is usually related to the term דַּמֶּשֶׂק (dammeseq) and translated as the “Damask linens” of the bed (cf. NASB “the cover”) or as “in Damascus” (so KJV, NJB, NIV). The differences in spelling (Damascus is spelled correctly in 5:27), historical considerations, and the word order make both of these derivations unlikely. Many emendations have been proposed (e.g., “a part from the foot [of a bed],” based on a different division of the Hebrew letters (cf. NEB, NRSV); and “on the edge,” based on a Hebrew term not attested in the Bible (NKJV). Some suggest a resemblance to an Akkadian term that means “sideboard [of a bed],” which is sometimes incorrectly rendered “headboard” (NJPS; see S. M. Paul, Amos [Hermeneia], 121-22). Most likely another part of a bed or couch is in view, but it is difficult to be more specific.
  25. Amos 3:13 tn Or “testify against.”
  26. Amos 3:13 tn Heb “house.”
  27. Amos 3:13 tn These words are spoken to either the unidentified heralds addressed at the beginning of v. 9, or to the Egyptians and Philistines (see v. 9b). Another possibility is that one is not to look for a specific addressee but rather appreciate the command simply as a rhetorical device to grab the attention of the listeners and readers of the prophetic message.
  28. Amos 3:13 tn Traditionally, “the God of hosts.”
  29. Amos 3:14 tn Heb “in the day.”
  30. Amos 3:14 tn Heb “his.” With the referent “Israel” here, this amounts to a collective singular.
  31. Amos 3:14 tn Traditionally, “transgressions, sins,” but see the note on the word “crimes” in 1:3.
  32. Amos 3:14 tn Heb “punish” (so NASB, NRSV).
  33. Amos 3:14 sn The horns of an ancient altar projected upwards from the four corners and resembled an animal’s horns in appearance. Fugitives could seek asylum by grabbing hold of these corners (see Exod 21:14; 1 Kgs 1:50; 2:28). When the altar’s horns were cut off, there would be no place of asylum left for the Lord’s enemies.
  34. Amos 3:15 tn Heb “the winter house along with the summer house.”sn Like kings, many in Israel’s wealthy class owned both winter and summer houses (cf. 1 Kgs 21:1, 18; Jer 36:22). For a discussion of archaeological evidence relating to these structures, see P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 64-65.
  35. Amos 3:15 tn Heb “houses of ivory.” These houses were not made of ivory, but they had ivory panels and furniture decorated with ivory inlays. See P. King, Amos, Hosea, Micah, 139-48.
  36. Amos 3:15 tn Or “many,” cf. NAB “their many rooms.”
  37. Amos 3:15 tn The translation assumes the form is from the Hebrew verb סָפָה (safah, “to sweep away”) rather than סוּף (suf, “to come to an end”), which is the choice of most versions. Either option effectively communicates the destruction of the structures.
Next
Amos 2
Amos 4
Next
Previous Next

Micah 1-2
New English Translation

Introduction

1 This is the Lord’s message that came to Micah of Moresheth during the time of[a] Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, which he saw concerning Samaria and Jerusalem.

The Judge is Coming

2 Listen, all you nations![b]
Pay attention, all inhabitants of earth![c]
The Sovereign Lord will act[d] as a witness against you;
the Lord will accuse you[e] from his majestic palace.[f]
3 Look,[g] the Lord is coming out of his dwelling place!
He will descend and march on the earth’s mountaintops![h]
4 The mountains will crumble[i] beneath him,
and the valleys will split apart[j]
like wax before a fire,
like water dumped down a steep slope.

5 All this is because of Jacob’s[k] rebellion
and[l] the sins of the nation[m] of Israel.
And just what is Jacob’s rebellion?
Isn’t it Samaria’s doings?[n]
And what is Judah’s sin?[o]
Isn’t it Jerusalem’s doings?[p]
6 “I will turn Samaria into a heap of ruins in an open field,

into a place for planting vineyards.
I will dump the rubble of her walls[q] down into the valley
and lay bare her foundations.[r]
7 All her carved idols will be smashed to pieces;
all her metal cult statues will be destroyed by fire.[s]
I will make a waste heap[t] of all her images.
Since[u] she gathered the metal[v] as a prostitute collects her wages,
the idols will become a prostitute’s wages again.”[w]
8 For this reason I[x] will mourn and wail;
I will walk around barefoot[y] and without my outer garments.[z]
I will howl[aa] like a wild dog,[ab]
and screech[ac] like an owl.[ad]
9 For Samaria’s[ae] disease[af] is incurable.
It has infected[ag] Judah;
it has spread to[ah] the leadership[ai] of my people
and even to Jerusalem!
10 Don’t spread the news in Gath.[aj]
Don’t shed even a single tear.[ak]
In Beth Leaphrah roll about in mourning in the dust![al]
11 Residents[am] of Shaphir,[an] pass by in nakedness and humiliation!
The residents of Zaanan have not escaped.[ao]
Beth Ezel[ap] mourns,[aq]
“He takes from you what he desires.”[ar]
12 Indeed, the residents of Maroth[as] hope for something good to happen,[at]
though the Lord has sent disaster against the city of Jerusalem.[au]
13 Residents of Lachish,[av] hitch the horses to the chariots!
You[aw] influenced Daughter Zion[ax] to sin,[ay]
for Israel’s rebellious deeds can be traced back[az] to you!
14 Therefore you[ba] will have to say farewell[bb] to Moresheth Gath.
The residents[bc] of Achzib[bd] will be as disappointing
as a dried up well[be] to the kings of Israel.[bf]
15 Residents of Mareshah,[bg] a conqueror will attack you;[bh]
the leaders of Israel shall flee to Adullam.[bi]
16 Shave your heads bald as you mourn for the children you love;[bj]
shave your foreheads as bald[bk] as an eagle,[bl]
for they are taken from you into exile.

Land Robbers Will Lose Their Land

2 Beware wicked schemers,[bm]
those who devise calamity as they lie in bed.[bn]
As soon as morning dawns they carry out their plans,[bo]
because they have the power to do so.
2 They confiscate the fields they desire
and seize the houses they want.[bp]
They defraud people of their homes[bq]
and deprive people of the land they have inherited.[br]

3 Therefore the Lord says this:

“Look, I am devising disaster for this nation![bs]
It will be like a yoke from which you cannot free your neck.[bt]
You will no longer[bu] walk proudly,
for it will be a time of catastrophe.
4 In that day people will sing this taunt song to you—
they will mock you with this lament:[bv]
‘We are completely destroyed;
they sell off[bw] the property of my people.
How they remove it from me![bx]
They assign our fields to the conqueror.’”[by]
5 Therefore no one will assign you land in the Lord’s community.[bz]
6 “Don’t preach with such impassioned rhetoric,” they say excitedly.[ca]

“These prophets should not preach of such things;
we will not be overtaken by humiliation.”[cb]
7 Does the family[cc] of Jacob say,[cd]
“The Lord’s patience[ce] can’t be exhausted—
he would never do such things”?[cf]
To be sure, my commands bring a reward
for those who obey them,[cg]
8 but you rise up as an enemy against my people.[ch]
You steal a robe from a friend,[ci]
from those who pass by peacefully as if returning from a war.[cj]
9 You wrongly evict widows[ck] among my people from their cherished homes.
You defraud their children[cl] of their prized inheritance.[cm]
10 But you are the ones who will be forced to leave![cn]
For this land is not secure;[co]
sin will thoroughly destroy it![cp]
11 If a lying windbag should come and say,[cq]
‘I’ll promise you blessings of wine and beer,’[cr]
he would be just the right preacher for these people![cs]

The Lord Will Restore His People

12 “I will certainly gather all of you, O Jacob,
I will certainly assemble those Israelites who remain.[ct]
I will bring them together like sheep in a fold,[cu]
like a flock in the middle of a pasture;[cv]
they will be so numerous that they will make a lot of noise.[cw]
13 The one who can break through barriers will lead them out;[cx]
they will break out, pass through the gate, and leave.[cy]
Their king will advance[cz] before them;
the Lord himself will lead them.”[da]

Footnotes

  1. Micah 1:1 tn Heb “in the days of” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV).
  2. Micah 1:2 tn Heb “O peoples, all of them.”
  3. Micah 1:2 tn Heb “O earth and that which fills it”; cf. KJV “and all that therein is.”
  4. Micah 1:2 tc The MT has the jussive form verb וִיהִי (vihi, “may he be”), while the Dead Sea Scrolls have the imperfect form יהיה (yihyeh, “he will be”). The LXX uses a future indicative. On the basis of distance from the primary accent, GKC 325-26 §109.k attempts to explain the form as a rhythmical shortening of the imperfect rather than a true jussive. Some of the examples in GKC may now be explained as preterites, while others are text-critical problems. And some may have other modal explanations. But other examples are not readily explained by these considerations. The text-critical decision and the grammatical explanation in GKC would both lead to translating as an imperfect. Some translations render it in a jussive sense, either as request: “And let my Lord God be your accuser” (NJPS), or as dependent purpose/result: “that the Sovereign Lord may witness against you” (NIV).
  5. Micah 1:2 tn Heb “the Lord from his majestic palace.” The verb is supplied from the previous line by the convention of ellipsis and double duty. Cf. CEV “the Lord God accuses you from his holy temple,” TEV “He speaks from his holy temple.”
  6. Micah 1:2 tn Or “his holy temple” (KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). This refers to the Lord’s dwelling in heaven, however, rather than the temple in Jerusalem (note the following verse, which describes a theophany).
  7. Micah 1:3 tn Or “For look.” The expression כִּי־הִנֵּה (ki-hinneh) may function as an explanatory introduction (“For look!”; Isa 26:21; 60:2; 65:17, 18: 66:15; Jer 1:15; 25:29; 30:10; 45:5; 46:27; 50:9; Ezek 30:9; 36:9; Zech 2:10; 3:8), or as an emphatic introduction (“Look!”; Jdgs 3:15; Isa 3:1; Jer 8:17; 30:3; 49:15; Hos 9:6; Joel 3:1 [4:1 HT]; Amos 4:2, 13; 6:11, 14; 9:9; Hab 1:6; Zech 2:9 [2:13 HT]; Zech 3:9; 11:16).
  8. Micah 1:3 tn Or “high places” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
  9. Micah 1:4 tn Or “melt” (NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). This is a figurative description of earthquakes, landslides, and collapse of the mountains, rather than some sort of volcanic activity (note the remainder of the verse).
  10. Micah 1:4 tn Or “rupture.” This may refer to the appearance of a valley after the blockage of a landslide has effectively divided it.
  11. Micah 1:5 sn Jacob is an alternate name for Israel (see Gen 32:28).
  12. Micah 1:5 tn Heb “and because of.”
  13. Micah 1:5 tn Heb “house.”
  14. Micah 1:5 tn Heb “Is it not Samaria?” The capital city, Samaria, represents the policies of the government and trend-setting behaviors of her people. The rhetorical question expects a positive answer, “Yes, it is.”
  15. Micah 1:5 tc The MT reads, “What are Judah’s high places?” while the LXX, Syriac, and Targum read, “What is Judah’s sin?” Whether or not the original text was “sin,” the passage certainly alludes to Judah’s sin as a complement to Samaria’s. “High places” are where people worshiped idols; they could, by metonymy, represent pagan worship. Smith notes, however, that, “Jerusalem was not known for its high places,” and so follows the LXX as representing the original text (R. Smith, Micah [WBC], 16). Given the warning in v. 3 that the Lord will march on the land’s high places (“mountain tops,” based on the same word but a different plural form), this may be a way of referring to that threat while evoking the notion of idolatry.
  16. Micah 1:5 tn Jerusalem, the capital of Judah, represents the nation’s behavior. The rhetorical question expects an affirmative answer.sn In vv. 2-5 Micah narrows the scope of God’s judgment from the nations (vv. 2-4) to his covenant people (v. 5). Universal judgment is coming, but ironically Israel is the focal point of God’s anger. In v. 5c the prophet includes Judah within the scope of divine judgment, for Judah has followed in the pagan steps of the northern kingdom. He accomplishes this with rhetorical skill. In v. 5b he develops the first assertion of v. 5a (“All of this is because of Jacob’s rebellion”). One expects in v. 5c an elaboration of the second assertion in v. 5a (“and the sins of the nation of Israel”), which one assumes, in light of v. 5b, pertains to the northern kingdom. But the prophet makes it clear that “the nation of Israel” includes Judah. Verses 6-7 further develop v. 5b (judgment on the northern kingdom), while vv. 8-16 expand on v. 5c (judgment on Judah).
  17. Micah 1:6 tn Heb “her stones.” The term “stones” is a metonymy for the city walls whose foundations were constructed of stone masonry.
  18. Micah 1:6 tn Heb “I will uncover her foundations.” The term “foundations” refers to the lower courses of the stones of the city’s outer fortification walls.
  19. Micah 1:7 tn Heb “and all her prostitute’s wages will be burned with fire.”sn The precious metal used by Samaria’s pagan worship centers to make idols is compared to a prostitute’s wages because Samaria had been unfaithful to the Lord and prostituted herself to pagan gods such as Baal.
  20. Micah 1:7 tn Heb “I will make desolate” (so NASB).
  21. Micah 1:7 tn Or “for” (KJV, NASB, NRSV).
  22. Micah 1:7 tn No object is specified in the Hebrew text; the words “the metal” are supplied from the context.
  23. Micah 1:7 tn Heb “for from a prostitute’s wages she gathered, and to a prostitute’s wages they will return.” When the metal was first collected it was comparable to the coins a prostitute would receive for her services. The metal was then formed into idols, but now the Lord’s fiery judgment would reduce the metal images to their original condition.
  24. Micah 1:8 tn The prophet is probably the speaker here.
  25. Micah 1:8 tn Or “stripped.” The precise meaning of this Hebrew word is unclear. It may refer to walking barefoot (see 2 Sam 15:30) or to partially stripping oneself (see Job 12:17-19).
  26. Micah 1:8 tn Heb “naked.” This probably does not refer to complete nudity, but to stripping off one’s outer garments as an outward sign of the destitution felt by the mourner.
  27. Micah 1:8 tn Heb “I will make lamentation.”
  28. Micah 1:8 tn Or “a jackal”; CEV “howling wolves.”
  29. Micah 1:8 tn Heb “[make] a mourning.”
  30. Micah 1:8 tn Or perhaps “ostrich” (cf. ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).
  31. Micah 1:9 tn Heb “her.”
  32. Micah 1:9 tc The MT reads the plural “wounds/plagues”; the singular is read by the LXX, Syriac, and Vg.
  33. Micah 1:9 tn Heb “come to.”
  34. Micah 1:9 tn Or “reached.”
  35. Micah 1:9 tn Heb “the gate.” Kings and civic leaders typically conducted important business at the city gate (see 1 Kgs 22:10 for an example), and the term is understood here to refer by metonymy to the leadership who would be present at the gate.
  36. Micah 1:10 tn Heb “Tell it not in Gath.” The Hebrew word for “tell” (נָגַד, nagad) sounds like the name of the city, Gath (גַּת, gat).
  37. Micah 1:10 tn The Hebrew infinitive absolute before the negated jussive emphasizes the prohibition.
  38. Micah 1:10 tc The translation assumes a masculine plural imperative. If one were to emend בְּבֵית (bevet) to בֵית (vet), Beth Leaphrah would then be the addressee and the feminine singular imperative (see Qere) could be retained, “O Beth Leaphrah, sit in the dust.”tn Or “wallow.” The verb פָּלַשׁ (palash, “roll about [in dust])” refers to a cultural behavior associated with mourning.sn The name Beth Leaphrah means “house of dust.”
  39. Micah 1:11 tn The feminine singular participle is here used in a collective sense for all the residents of the town. See GKC 394 §122.s.
  40. Micah 1:11 sn The place name Shaphir means “pleasant” in Hebrew.
  41. Micah 1:11 tn Heb “have not gone out.” NIV “will not come out”; NLT “dare not come outside.” sn The place name Zaanan sounds like the verb “go out” in Hebrew.
  42. Micah 1:11 sn The place name Beth Ezel means “house of nearness” or “house of proximity” in Hebrew.
  43. Micah 1:11 tn Heb “the lamentation of Beth Ezel.” The following words could be the lamentation offered up by Beth Ezel (subjective genitive) or the mourning song sung over it (objective genitive).
  44. Micah 1:11 tc The form עֶמְדָּתוֹ (ʿemdato) should be emended to חֲמַדְּתוֹ (khamadto, “his (the conqueror’s) desire”).tn The precise meaning of the line is uncertain. The translation assumes: (a) the subject of the third masculine singular verb יִקַּח (yiqqakh, “he/it takes”) is the conqueror, (b) the second masculine plural suffix (“you”) on the preposition מִן (min, “from”) refers to the residents of Shaphir and Zaanan, (c) the final form עֶמְדָּתוֹ should be emended to חֲמַדְּתוֹ, “his (the conqueror’s) desire.”
  45. Micah 1:12 sn The place name Maroth sounds like the Hebrew word for “bitter.”
  46. Micah 1:12 tc The translation assumes an emendation of חָלָה (khalah; from חִיל, khil, “to writhe”) to יִחֲלָה (yikhalah; from יָחַל, yakhal, “to wait”).tn Heb “[the residents of Maroth] writhe [= “anxiously long for”?] good.”
  47. Micah 1:12 tn Heb “though disaster has come down from the Lord to the gate of Jerusalem.”
  48. Micah 1:13 sn The place name Lachish sounds like the Hebrew word for “team [of horses].”
  49. Micah 1:13 tn Heb “she”; this has been translated as second person (“you”) in keeping with the direct address to the residents of Lachish in the previous line.
  50. Micah 1:13 sn The epithet Daughter Zion pictures the city of Jerusalem as a young lady.
  51. Micah 1:13 tn Heb “She was the beginning of sin for Daughter Zion.”
  52. Micah 1:13 tn Heb “for in you was found the transgressions of Israel.”
  53. Micah 1:14 tn The subject of the feminine singular verb is probably Lachish.
  54. Micah 1:14 tn Heb “you will give a dowry to”; NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV “give parting gifts to.” Lachish is compared to a father who presents wedding gifts to his daughter as she leaves her father’s home to take up residence with her husband. In similar fashion Lachish will bid farewell to Moresheth Gath, for the latter will be taken by the invader.
  55. Micah 1:14 tn Heb “houses.” By metonymy this refers to the people who live in them.
  56. Micah 1:14 sn The place name Achzib (אַכְזִיב, ʾakhziv, “place on the dried up river”; see HALOT 45 s.v. אַכְזָב) creates a word play on the similar sounding term כָּזָב (kazav, “lie, deception”; HALOT 468 s.v. כָּזָב). Like the dried up river upon which its name was based, the city of Achzib would fail to help the kings of Israel in their time of need.
  57. Micah 1:14 tn Or “will be a deception.” The term אַכְזָב (ʾakhzav) is often translated “deception,” derived from the verb I כָּזָב (“to deceive, lie”; HALOT 467-68 s.v. I כזב). However, it probably means “what is dried up,” since (1) the noun elsewhere refers to an empty well or dried river in summer (Jer 15:18; cf. Job 6:15-20) (HALOT 45 s.v. אַכְזָב); (2) the place-name “Achzib” (אַכְזִיב) literally means “place on the אַכְזָב [dried up river]” (HALOT 45 s.v. אַכְזָב); and (3) it is derived from the verb II כָּזָב (“to dry up [brook]”; Isa 58:11), which also appears in Mishnaic Hebrew and Arabic. The point of the metaphor is that Achzib will be as disappointing to the kings of Israel as a dried up spring in the summer is to a thirsty traveler in the Jordanian desert.
  58. Micah 1:14 sn Because of the enemy invasion, Achzib would not be able to deliver soldiers for the army and/or services normally rendered to the crown.
  59. Micah 1:15 sn The place name Mareshah sounds like the Hebrew word for “conqueror.”
  60. Micah 1:15 tn Heb “Again a conqueror I will bring to you, residents of Mareshah.” The first person verb is problematic, for the Lord would have to be the subject (cf. NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT). But the prophet appears to be delivering this lament and the Lord is referred to in the third person in v. 12. Consequently many emend the verb to a third person form (יָבוֹא, yavoʾ) and understand the “conqueror” as subject.
  61. Micah 1:15 tn Heb “to Adullam the glory of Israel will go.” This probably means that the nation’s leadership will run for their lives and, like David of old, hide from their enemy in the caves of Adullam. Cf. NIV’s “He who is the glory of Israel will come to Adullam,” which sounds as if an individual is in view, and could be understood as a messianic reference.
  62. Micah 1:16 tn Heb “over the sons of your delight.”
  63. Micah 1:16 tn Heb “make wide your baldness.”
  64. Micah 1:16 tn Or “a vulture” (cf. NIV, TEV); CEV “a buzzard.” The Hebrew term נֶשֶׁר (nesher) refers to the griffon vulture or eagle.
  65. Micah 2:1 tn Heb “those who think up evil.”
  66. Micah 2:1 tn Heb “upon their beds.”
  67. Micah 2:1 tn Heb “at the light of morning they do it.”
  68. Micah 2:2 tn Heb “they desire fields and rob [them], and houses and take [them] away.”
  69. Micah 2:2 tn Heb “and they oppress a man and his home.”
  70. Micah 2:2 tn Heb “and a man and his inheritance.” The verb עָשַׁק (ʿashaq, “to oppress”; “to wrong”) does double duty in the parallel structure and is understood by ellipsis in the second line.
  71. Micah 2:3 tn Heb “clan” or “extended family.”
  72. Micah 2:3 tn Heb “from which you will not remove your neck.” The words “It will be like a yoke” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
  73. Micah 2:3 tn Or “you will not.”
  74. Micah 2:4 tc The form נִהְיָה (nihyah) should be omitted as dittographic (note the preceding וְנָהָה נְהִי venahah nehi).tn Heb “one will lament [with] a lamentation [and] say.”
  75. Micah 2:4 tn Or “exchange.” The LXX suggests a reading יִמַּד (yimmad) from מָדַד (madad, “to measure”). In this case one could translate, “the property of my people is measured out [i.e., for resale].”
  76. Micah 2:4 tn Heb “how one removes for me.” Apparently the preposition has the nuance “from” here (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
  77. Micah 2:4 tc The Hebrew term שׁוֹבֵב (shovev, “the one turning back”) elsewhere has the nuance “apostate” (cf. NASB) or “traitor” (cf. NIV). The translation assumes an emendation to שָׁבָה (shavah, “captor”).tn Heb “to the one turning back he assigns our fields.”
  78. Micah 2:5 tn Heb “therefore you will not have one who strings out a measuring line by lot in the assembly of the Lord.”sn No one will assign you land in the Lord’s community. When judgment passes and the people are restored to the land, those greedy ones who disregarded the ancient land allotments will not be allowed to participate in the future redistribution of the land.
  79. Micah 2:6 tn Heb “‘Do not foam at the mouth,’ they foam at the mouth.” The verb נָטַף (nataf) means “to drip.” When used of speech it probably has the nuance “to drivel, to foam at the mouth” (HALOT 694 s.v. נטף). The sinful people tell the Lord’s prophets not to “foam at the mouth,” which probably refers in a derogatory way to their impassioned style of delivery. But the Lord (who is probably still speaking here, see v. 3) sarcastically refers to their impassioned exhortation as “foaming at the mouth.”
  80. Micah 2:6 tc If one follows the MT as it stands, it would appear that the Lord here condemns the people for their “foaming at the mouth” and then announces that judgment is inevitable. The present translation assumes that this is a continuation of the quotation of what the people say. In this case the subject of “foam at the mouth” is the Lord’s prophets. In the second line יִסַּג (yissag, a Niphal imperfect from סוּג, sug, “to remove”) is emended to יַסִּגֵנוּ (yassigenu; a Hiphil imperfect from נָסַג/נָשַׂג, nasag/nasag, “to reach; to overtake”).tn Heb “they should not foam at the mouth concerning these things, humiliation will not be removed.”
  81. Micah 2:7 tn Heb “house” (so many English versions); CEV “descendants.’
  82. Micah 2:7 tc The MT has אָמוּר (ʾamur), an otherwise unattested passive participle, which is better emended to אָמוֹר (ʾamor), an infinitive absolute functioning as a finite verb (see BDB 55 s.v. אָמַר).
  83. Micah 2:7 tn The Hebrew word רוּחַ (ruakh) often means “Spirit” when used of the Lord, but here it seems to have an abstract sense, “patience.” See BDB 925 s.v. 3.d.
  84. Micah 2:7 tn Heb “Has the patience of the Lord run short? Or are these his deeds?” The rhetorical questions expect the answer, “No, of course not.” The people contest the prophet’s claims that the Lord’s judgment is falling on the nation.
  85. Micah 2:7 tn Heb “Do not my words accomplish good for the one who walks uprightly?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course they do!” The Lord begins his response to the claim of the house of Jacob that they are immune to judgment (see v. 7a). He points out that the godly are indeed rewarded, but then he goes on to show that those in the house of Jacob are not godly and can expect divine judgment, not blessing (vv. 8-11). Some emend “my words” to “his words.” In this case, v. 7b is a continuation of the immediately preceding quotation. The people, thinking they are godly, confidently ask, “Do not his [God’s] words accomplish good for the one who walks uprightly?”
  86. Micah 2:8 tc Heb “Recently my people rise up as an enemy.” The MT is problematic in light of v. 9, where “my people” are the object of oppression, not the perpetrators of it. The form וְאֶתְמוּל (veʾetmul, “and recently”) is probably the product of fusion and subsequent suppression of an (ע) ʿayin. The translation assumes an emendation to וְאַתֶּם עַל (veʾattem ʿal, “and you against [my people]”). The second person plural pronoun fits well with the second plural verb forms of vv. 8b-10. If this emendation is accepted, then יְקוֹמֵם (yeqomem, the Polel imperfect of קוּם [qum]) should be emended to קָמִים (qamim; a Qal participle from the same root).
  87. Micah 2:8 tc Heb “From the front of a garment glory [or perhaps, “a robe”] you strip off,” but this makes little if any sense. The term מִמּוּל (mimmul, “from the front of”) is probably the product of dittography (note the preceding word, which ends in [ם] mem) and subsequent suppression of ע (ʿayin). The translation assumes an emendation to מֵעַל (meʿal, “from upon”). The translation also assumes an emendation of שַׂלְמָה אֶדֶר (salmah ʾeder, “a garment, glory [or robe]”) to שֹׁלְמִים אֲדֶרֶת (sholemim ʾaderet, “[from] a friend the robe [you strip off]”). The MT’s אֶדֶר (ʾeder) is the result of improper division (the article has erroneously been attached to the preceding word) and haplography (of the final tav, which also begins the following word).
  88. Micah 2:8 tc The passive participle שׁוּבֵי (shuve) is unattested elsewhere and should be emended to a participle שָׁבִים (shavim).tn Heb “from those passing by peacefully, returnees from war.” Actual refugees, however, are probably not in view. The second line compares those who pass by peacefully with individuals returning from war. The battle is over and they do not expect their own countrymen to attack them.
  89. Micah 2:9 tn Heb “women.” This may be a synecdoche of the whole (women) for the part (widows).
  90. Micah 2:9 tn Heb “her little children” or “her infants”; ASV, NRSV “young children.”
  91. Micah 2:9 tn Heb “from their children you take my glory forever.” The yod (י) ending on הֲדָרִי (hadari) is usually taken as a first person common singular suffix (“my glory”). But it may be the archaic genitive ending (“glory of”) in the construct expression “glory of perpetuity,” that is, “perpetual glory.” In either case, this probably refers to the dignity or honor the Lord bestowed on each Israelite family by giving them a share of his land to be inherited perpetually from one generation to another within each family. The term הָדָר (hadar) may refer to possessions that a person prizes (Lam 1:6).
  92. Micah 2:10 tn Heb “Arise and go!” These imperatives are rhetorical. Those who wrongly drove widows and orphans from their homes and land inheritances will themselves be driven out of the land (cf. Isa 5:8-17). This is an example of poetic justice.
  93. Micah 2:10 tn Heb “for this is no resting place.” The Lord speaks to the oppressors.
  94. Micah 2:10 tn Heb “uncleanness will destroy, and destruction will be severe.”
  95. Micah 2:11 tn Heb “if a man, coming [as] wind and falsehood, should lie”; NASB “walking after wind and falsehood”; NIV “a liar and a deceiver.”
  96. Micah 2:11 tn Heb “I will foam at the mouth concerning wine and beer.”
  97. Micah 2:11 tn Heb “he would be the foamer at the mouth for this people.”
  98. Micah 2:12 tn Heb “the remnant of Israel.”
  99. Micah 2:12 tc The MT reads בָּצְרָה (batsrah, “Bozrah”) but the form should be emended to בַּצִּרָה (batsirah, “into the fold”). See D. R. Hillers, Micah (Hermeneia), 38.
  100. Micah 2:12 tc The MT reads “its pasture,” but the final vav (ו) belongs with the following verb. See GKC 413 §127.i.
  101. Micah 2:12 tn Heb “and they will be noisy [or perhaps, “excited”] from men.” The subject of the third feminine plural verb תְּהִימֶנָה (tehimenah, “they will be noisy”) is probably the feminine singular צֹאן (tsoʾn, “flock”). (For another example of this collective singular noun with a feminine plural verb, see Gen 30:38.) In the construction מֵאָדָם (meʾadam, “from men”) the preposition is probably causal. L. C. Allen translates “bleating in fear of men” (Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah [NICOT], 300), but it is possible to take the causal sense as “because of the large quantity of men.” In this case the sheep metaphor and the underlying reality are mixed.
  102. Micah 2:13 tn Heb “the one who breaks through goes up before them.” The verb form is understood as a perfect of certitude, emphasizing the certainty of this coming event.
  103. Micah 2:13 tn The three verb forms (a perfect and two preterites with vav [ו] consecutive) indicate certitude.sn The “fold” from which the sheep/people break out is probably a reference to their place of exile.
  104. Micah 2:13 tn The verb form (a preterite with vav [ו] consecutive) indicates certitude.
  105. Micah 2:13 tn Heb “the Lord [will be] at their head.”
Next
Jonah 4
Micah 3
Next
dropdown
New English Translation (NET)

NET Bible® copyright ©1996-2017 by Biblical Studies Press, L.L.C. http://netbible.com All rights reserved.