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
2:12 I will certainly gather all of you, O Jacob,
I will certainly assemble those Israelites who remain. 6
I will bring them together like sheep in a fold, 7
like a flock in the middle of a pasture; 8
they will be so numerous that they will make a lot of noise. 9
6:16 You implement the regulations of Omri,
and all the practices of Ahab’s dynasty; 10
you follow their policies. 11
Therefore I will make you an appalling sight, 12
the city’s 13 inhabitants will be taunted derisively, 14
and nations will mock all of you.” 15
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
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
6 tn Heb “the remnant of Israel.”
7 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.
8 tc The MT reads “its pasture,” but the final vav (ו) belongs with the following verb. See GKC 413 §127.i.
9 tn Heb “and they will be noisy [or perhaps, “excited”] from men.” The subject of the third feminine plural verb תְּהִימֶנָה (tÿhimenah, “they will be noisy”) is probably the feminine singular צֹאן (tso’n, “flock”). (For another example of this collective singular noun with a feminine plural verb, see Gen 30:38.) In the construction מֵאָדָם (me’adam, “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.
10 tn Heb “the edicts of Omri are kept, and all the deeds of the house of Ahab.”
11 tn Heb “and you walk in their plans.”
sn The Omride dynasty, of which Ahab was the most infamous king, had a reputation for implementing unjust and oppressive measures. See 1 Kgs 21.
12 tn The Hebrew term שַׁמָּה (shammah) can refer to “destruction; ruin,” or to the reaction it produces in those who witness the destruction.
13 tn Heb “her”; the referent (the city) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
14 tn Heb “[an object] of hissing,” which was a way of taunting someone.
15 tc The translation assumes an emendation of the MT’s עַמִּי (’ammi, “my people”) to עַמִּים (’ammim, “nations”).
tn Heb “and the reproach of my people you will bear.” The second person verb is plural here, in contrast to the singular forms used in vv. 13-15.