Discovery BoxMicah 2:12 
Context2:12 I will certainly gather all of you, O Jacob,
I will certainly assemble those Israelites who remain. 1
I will bring them together like sheep in a fold, 2
like a flock in the middle of a pasture; 3
they will be so numerous that they will make a lot of noise. 4
Micah 3:5
Context3:5 This is what the Lord says: “The prophets who mislead my people
are as good as dead. 5
If someone gives them enough to eat,
they offer an oracle of peace. 6
But if someone does not give them food,
they are ready to declare war on him. 7
Micah 3:11
Context3:11 Her 8 leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, 9
her priests proclaim rulings for profit,
and her prophets read omens for pay.
Yet they claim to trust 10 the Lord and say,
“The Lord is among us. 11
Disaster will not overtake 12 us!”
Micah 4:3
Context4:3 He will arbitrate 13 between many peoples
and settle disputes between many 14 distant nations. 15
They will beat their swords into plowshares, 16
and their spears into pruning hooks. 17
Nations will not use weapons 18 against other nations,
and they will no longer train for war.
Micah 5:6
Context5:6 They will rule 19 the land of Assyria with the sword,
the land of Nimrod 20 with a drawn sword. 21
Our king 22 will rescue us from the Assyrians
should they attempt to invade our land
and try to set foot in our territory.
1 tn Heb “the remnant of Israel.”
2 tc The MT reads בָּצְרָה (batsrah, “Bozrah”) but the form should be emended to בַּצִּרָה (batsirah, “into the fold”). See D. R. Hillers, Micah (Hermeneia), 38.
3 tc The MT reads “its pasture,” but the final vav (ו) belongs with the following verb. See GKC 413 §127.i.
4 tn Heb “and they will be noisy [or perhaps, “excited”] from men.” The subject of the third feminine plural verb תְּהִימֶנָה (tÿhimenah, “they will be noisy”) is probably the feminine singular צֹאן (tso’n, “flock”). (For another example of this collective singular noun with a feminine plural verb, see Gen 30:38.) In the construction מֵאָדָם (me’adam, “from men”) the preposition is probably causal. L. C. Allen translates “bleating in fear of men” (Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah [NICOT], 300), but it is possible to take the causal sense as “because of the large quantity of men.” In this case the sheep metaphor and the underlying reality are mixed.
5 tn Heb “concerning the prophets, those who mislead my people.” The first person pronominal suffix is awkward in a quotation formula that introduces the words of the
6 tn Heb “those who bite with their teeth and cry out, ‘peace.’” The phrase “bite with the teeth” is taken here as idiomatic for eating. Apparently these prophets were driven by mercenary motives. If they were paid well, they gave positive oracles to their clients, but if someone could not afford to pay them, they were hostile and delivered oracles of doom.
7 tn Heb “but [as for the one] who does not place [food] in their mouths, they prepare for war against him.”
8 sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).
9 tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”
10 tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”
11 tn Heb “Is not the
12 tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”
13 tn Or “judge.”
14 tn Or “mighty” (NASB); KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “strong”; TEV “among the great powers.”
15 tn Heb “[for many nations] to a distance.”
16 sn Instead of referring to the large plow as a whole, the plowshare is simply the metal tip which actually breaks the earth and cuts the furrow.
17 sn This implement was used to prune the vines, i.e., to cut off extra leaves and young shoots (M. Klingbeil, NIDOTTE 1:1117-18). It was a short knife with a curved hook at the end sharpened on the inside like a sickle.
18 tn Heb “take up the sword.”
19 tn Or perhaps “break”; or “defeat.”
20 sn According to Gen 10:8-12, Nimrod, who was famous as a warrior and hunter, founded Assyria.
21 tc The MT reads “in her gates,” but the text should be emended to בַּפְּתִיחָה (baptikhah, “with a drawn sword”).
22 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the coming king) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
