Micah 3:5-7
New English Translation
5 This is what the Lord has said about the prophets who mislead my people,[a]
“If someone gives them enough to eat,
they offer an oracle of peace.[b]
But if someone does not give them food,
they are ready to declare war on him.[c]
6 Therefore night will fall, and you will receive no visions;[d]
it will grow dark, and you will no longer be able to read the omens.[e]
The sun will set on these prophets,
and the daylight will turn to darkness over their heads.[f]
7 The prophets[g] will be ashamed;
the omen readers will be humiliated.
All of them will cover their mouths,[h]
for they will receive no divine oracles.”[i]
Footnotes
- Micah 3:5 tn Heb “concerning the prophets, those who mislead my people.” Some prefer to begin the quotation after “the Lord has said” (cf. NIV). But when the preposition עַל (ʿal, “about”) occurs with this introductory formula it regularly indicates who is being spoken about. (When a person is not the object of the preposition, it may begin the quote, meaning “because.”) Including the first person pronominal suffix (in “my people”) after a third person introduction may sound awkward, but also occurs in Jer 14:15; 23:2 (and perhaps Jer 12:14, a text critical question). Hillers prefers to add הוֹי (hoy, “woe, ah”) at the beginning of the quotation, after the graphically similar יְהוָה (yehvah; see D. R. Hillers, Micah [Hermeneia], 44). The phrase הוֹי עַל (hoy ʿal, “woe upon”) occurs in Jer 50:27 and Ezek 13:3 (with “the prophets” following the preposition in the latter instance).
- Micah 3:5 tn Heb “those who bite with their teeth and cry out, ‘peace.’” The phrase “bite with the teeth” is taken here as idiomatic for eating. Apparently these prophets were driven by mercenary motives. If they were paid well, they gave positive oracles to their clients, but if someone could not afford to pay them, they were hostile and delivered oracles of doom.
- Micah 3:5 tn Heb “but [as for the one] who does not place [food] in their mouths, they prepare for war against him.”
- Micah 3:6 tn Heb “it will be night for you without a vision.”sn The coming of night (and darkness in the following line) symbolizes the cessation of revelation.
- Micah 3:6 tn Heb “it will be dark for you without divination.”sn The reading of omens (Heb “divination”) was forbidden in the law (Deut 18:10), so this probably reflects the prophets’ view of how they received divine revelation.
- Micah 3:6 tn Heb “and the day will be dark over them.”
- Micah 3:7 tn Or “seers.”
- Micah 3:7 tn Or “the mustache,” or perhaps “the beard.” Cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV “cover their lips.”
- Micah 3:7 tn Heb “no divine response” or “no answer from God.”
Micah 3:5-7
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
5 Thus says the Lord concerning the prophets
who lead my people astray,
who cry “Peace”
when they have something to eat
but declare war against those
who put nothing into their mouths.(A)
6 Therefore it shall be night to you, without vision,
and darkness to you, without revelation.
The sun shall go down upon the prophets,
and the day shall be black over them;(B)
7 the seers shall be disgraced
and the diviners put to shame;
they shall all cover their lips,
for there is no answer from God.(C)
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