Micah 1:16
Context1:16 Shave your heads bald as you mourn for the children you love; 1
shave your foreheads as bald 2 as an eagle, 3
for they are taken from you into exile.
Micah 2:6
Context2:6 ‘Don’t preach with such impassioned rhetoric,’ they say excitedly. 4
‘These prophets should not preach of such things;
we will not be overtaken by humiliation.’ 5
Micah 3:7
Context3:7 The prophets 6 will be ashamed;
the omen readers will be humiliated.
All of them will cover their mouths, 7
for they will receive no divine oracles.” 8
Micah 5:1
Context5:1 (4:14) 9 But now slash yourself, 10 daughter surrounded by soldiers! 11
We are besieged!
With a scepter 12 they strike Israel’s ruler 13
on the side of his face.
1 tn Heb “over the sons of your delight.”
2 tn Heb “make wide your baldness.”
3 tn Or “a vulture” (cf. NIV, TEV); CEV “a buzzard.” The Hebrew term נֶשֶׁר (nesher) refers to the griffon vulture or eagle.
4 tn Heb “‘Do not foam at the mouth,’ they foam at the mouth.” The verb נָטַף (nataf) means “to drip.” When used of speech it probably has the nuance “to drivel, to foam at the mouth” (HALOT 694 s.v. נטף). The sinful people tell the
5 tc If one follows the MT as it stands, it would appear that the
tn Heb “they should not foam at the mouth concerning these things, humiliation will not be removed.”
6 tn Or “seers.”
7 tn Or “the mustache,” or perhaps “the beard.” Cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV “cover their lips.”
8 tn Heb “for there will be no answer from God.”
9 sn Beginning with 5:1, the verse numbers through 5:15 in the English Bible differ by one from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 5:1 ET = 4:14 HT, 5:2 ET = 5:1 HT, 5:3 ET = 5:2 HT, etc., through 5:15 ET = 5:14 HT. From 6:1 the verse numbers in the English Bible and the Hebrew Bible are again the same.
10 tn The Hebrew verb גָדַד (gadad) can be translated “slash yourself” or “gather in troops.” A number of English translations are based on the latter meaning (e.g., NASB, NIV, NLT).
sn Slash yourself. Slashing one’s body was a form of mourning. See Deut 14:1; 1 Kgs 18:28; Jer 16:6; 41:5; 47:5.
11 tn Heb “daughter of a troop of warriors.”
sn The daughter surrounded by soldiers is an image of the city of Jerusalem under siege (note the address “Daughter Jerusalem” in 4:8).
12 tn Or “staff”; KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT “rod”; CEV “stick”; NCV “club.”
sn Striking a king with a scepter, a symbol of rulership, would be especially ironic and humiliating.
13 tn Traditionally, “the judge of Israel” (so KJV, NASB).