3:6 Therefore night will fall, and you will receive no visions; 1
it will grow dark, and you will no longer be able to read the omens. 2
The sun will set on these prophets,
and the daylight will turn to darkness over their heads. 3
6:14 You will eat, but not be satisfied.
Even if you have the strength 4 to overtake some prey, 5
you will not be able to carry it away; 6
if you do happen to carry away something,
I will deliver it over to the sword.
1 tn Heb “it will be night for you without a vision.”
sn The coming of night (and darkness in the following line) symbolizes the cessation of revelation.
2 tn Heb “it will be dark for you without divination.”
sn The reading of omens (Heb “divination”) was forbidden in the law (Deut 18:10), so this probably reflects the prophets’ view of how they received divine revelation.
3 tn Heb “and the day will be dark over them.”
4 tc The first Hebrew term in the line (וְיֶשְׁחֲךָ, vÿyeshkhakha) is obscure. HALOT 446 s.v. יֶשַׁח understands a noun meaning “filth,” which would yield the translation, “and your filth is inside you.” The translation assumes an emendation to כֹּחַ-וְיֶשׁ (vÿyesh-koakh, “and [if] there is strength inside you”).
5 tn The meaning of the Hebrew term וְתַסֵּג (vÿtasseg) is unclear. The translation assumes it is a Hiphal imperfect from נָסַג/נָשַׂג (nasag/nasag, “reach; overtake”) and that hunting imagery is employed. (Note the reference to hunger in the first line of the verse.) See D. R. Hillers, Micah (Hermeneia), 80.
6 tn The Hiphal of פָּלַט (palat) is used in Isa 5:29 of an animal carrying its prey to a secure place.