Discovery BoxMicah 1:11 
Context1:11 Residents 1 of Shaphir, 2 pass by in nakedness and humiliation! 3
The residents of Zaanan can’t leave their city. 4
“He takes from you what he desires.” 7
Micah 6:5
Context6:5 My people, recall how King Balak of Moab planned to harm you, 8
how Balaam son of Beor responded to him.
Recall how you journeyed from Shittim to Gilgal,
so you might acknowledge that the Lord has treated you fairly.” 9
Micah 6:8
Context6:8 He has told you, O man, what is good,
and what the Lord really wants from you: 10
He wants you to 11 promote 12 justice, to be faithful, 13
and to live obediently before 14 your God.
1 tn The Hebrew participial form, which is feminine singular, is here used in a collective sense for the all the residents of the town. See GKC 394 §122.s.
2 sn The place name Shaphir means “pleasant” in Hebrew.
3 tn The imperatival form is used rhetorically, emphasizing that the inhabitants of Shaphir will pass by into exile.
4 tn Heb “have not come out”; NIV “will not come out”; NLT “dare not come outside.”
sn The expression can’t leave their city alludes to a siege of the town. The place name Zaanan sounds like the verb “come out” (i.e., “can’t leave”) in Hebrew.
5 sn The place name Beth Ezel means “house of nearness” or “house of proximity” in Hebrew.
6 tn Heb “the lamentation of Beth Ezel.” The following words could be the lamentation offered up by Beth Ezel (subjective genitive) or the mourning song sung over it (objective genitive).
7 tc The form עֶמְדָּתוֹ (’emdato) should be emended to חֲמַדְּתוֹ (khamadto, “his (the conqueror’s) desire”).
tn The precise meaning of the line is uncertain. The translation assumes: (a) the subject of the third masculine singular verb יִקַּח (yiqqakh, “he/it takes”) is the conqueror, (b) the second masculine plural suffix (“you”) on the preposition מִן (min, “from”) refers to the residents of Shaphir and Zaanan, (c) the final form עֶמְדָּתוֹ should be emended to חֲמַדְּתוֹ, “his (the conqueror’s) desire.”
8 tn Heb “remember what Balak…planned.”
9 tn Heb “From Shittim to Gilgal, in order to know the just acts of the
10 sn What the
11 tn Heb “except.” This statement is actually linked with what precedes, “What does he want from you except….”
12 tn Heb “to do,” in the sense of “promote.”
13 tn Heb “to love faithfulness.”
14 tn Heb “to walk humbly [or perhaps, “carefully”] with.”
