Micah 1:7

1:7 All her carved idols will be smashed to pieces;

all her metal cult statues will be destroyed by fire. 1 

I will make a waste heap 2  of all her images.

Since 3  she gathered the metal 4  as a prostitute collects her wages,

the idols will become a prostitute’s wages again.” 5 

1 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 are here compared to a prostitute’s wages because Samaria had been unfaithful to the Lord and prostituted herself to pagan gods, such as Baal.

2 tn Heb “I will make desolate” (so NASB).

3 tn Or “for” (KJV, NASB, NRSV).

4 tn No object is specified in the Hebrew text; the words “the metal” are supplied from the context.

5 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.