Micah 2:4
Context2:4 In that day people will sing this taunt song to you –
they will mock you with this lament: 1
‘We are completely destroyed;
they sell off 2 the property of my people.
How they remove it from me! 3
They assign our fields to the conqueror.’ 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
1 tc The form נִהְיָה (nihyah) should be omitted as dittographic (note the preceding וְנָהָה נְהִי vÿnahah nÿhiy).
tn Heb “one will lament [with] a lamentation [and] say.”
2 tn Or “exchange.” The LXX suggests a reading יִמַּד (yimmad) from מָדַד (madad, “to measure”). In this case one could translate, “the property of my people is measured out [i.e., for resale].”
3 tn Heb “how one removes for me.” Apparently the preposition has the nuance “from” here (cf. KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
4 tc The Hebrew term שׁוֹבֵב (shovev, “the one turning back”) elsewhere has the nuance “apostate” (cf. NASB) or “traitor” (cf. NIV). The translation assumes an emendation to שָׁבָה (shavah, “captor”).
tn Heb “to the one turning back he assigns our fields.”
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.”