2:3 Therefore the Lord says this: “Look, I am devising disaster for this nation! 1
It will be like a yoke from which you cannot free your neck. 2
You will no longer 3 walk proudly,
for it will be a time of catastrophe.
7:2 Faithful men have disappeared 4 from the land;
there are no godly men left. 5
They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood; 6
they hunt their own brother with a net. 7
7:18 There is no other God like you! 8
You 9 forgive sin
and pardon 10 the rebellion
of those who remain among your people. 11
You do not remain angry forever, 12
but delight in showing loyal love.
1 tn Heb “clan” or “extended family.”
2 tn Heb “from which you will not remove your neck.” The words “It will be like a yoke” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
3 tn Or “you will not.”
4 tn Or “have perished”; “have been destroyed.”
5 tn Heb “and an upright one among men there is not.”
6 tn Heb “for bloodshed” (so NASB); TEV “for a chance to commit murder.”
7 sn Micah compares these ungodly people to hunters trying to capture their prey with a net.
8 tn Heb “Who is a God like you?” The rhetorical question expects the answer, “No one!”
9 tn Heb “one who.” The prayer moves from direct address (second person) in v. 18a to a descriptive (third person) style in vv. 18b-19a and then back to direct address (second person) in vv. 19b-20. Due to considerations of English style and the unfamiliarity of the modern reader with alternation of persons in Hebrew poetry, the entire section has been rendered as direct address (second person) in the translation.
10 tn Heb “pass over.”
11 tn Heb “of the remnant of his inheritance.”
12 tn Heb “he does not keep hold of his anger forever.”