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 

Micah 3:11

3:11 Her ⁶  leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, ⁷ 

her priests proclaim rulings for profit,

and her prophets read omens for pay.

Yet they claim to trust ⁸  the Lord and say,

“The Lord is among us. ⁹ 

Disaster will not overtake ¹⁰  us!”

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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.

⁶ sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).

⁷ tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”

⁸ tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”

⁹ tn Heb “Is not the Lord in our midst?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “Of course he is!”

¹⁰ tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”