Micah 1:11

1:11 Residents ¹  of Shaphir, ²  pass by in nakedness and humiliation! ³ 

The residents of Zaanan can’t leave their city. ⁴ 

Beth Ezel ⁵  mourns, ⁶ 

“He takes from you what he desires.” ⁷ 

Micah 3:4

3:4 Someday these sinners will cry to the Lord for help, ⁸ 

but he will not answer them.

He will hide his face from them at that time,

because they have done such wicked deeds.”

Micah 6:8

6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good,

and what the Lord really wants from you: ⁹ 

He wants you to ¹⁰  promote ¹¹  justice, to be faithful, ¹² 

and to live obediently before ¹³  your God.

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¹ tn The Hebrew participial form, which is feminine singular, is here used in a collective sense for the all the residents of the town. See GKC 394 §122.s.

² sn The place name Shaphir means “pleasant” in Hebrew.

³ tn The imperatival form is used rhetorically, emphasizing that the inhabitants of Shaphir will pass by into exile.

⁴ tn Heb “have not come out”; NIV “will not come out”; NLT “dare not come outside.”

sn The expression can’t leave their city alludes to a siege of the town. The place name Zaanan sounds like the verb “come out” (i.e., “can’t leave”) in Hebrew.

⁵ sn The place name Beth Ezel means “house of nearness” or “house of proximity” in Hebrew.

⁶ 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).

⁷ tc The form עֶמְדָּתוֹ (’emdato) 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.”

⁸ tn Heb “then they will cry out to the Lord.” The words “Someday these sinners” have been supplied in the translation for clarification.

⁹ sn What the Lord really wants from you. Now the prophet switches roles and answers the hypothetical worshiper’s question. He makes it clear that the Lord desires proper attitudes more than ritual and sacrifice.

¹⁰ tn Heb “except.” This statement is actually linked with what precedes, “What does he want from you except….”

¹¹ tn Heb “to do,” in the sense of “promote.”

¹² tn Heb “to love faithfulness.”

¹³ tn Heb “to walk humbly [or perhaps, “carefully”] with.”