Discovery BoxMicah 3:6-11 
Context3:6 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
3:7 The prophets 4 will be ashamed;
the omen readers will be humiliated.
All of them will cover their mouths, 5
for they will receive no divine oracles.” 6
3:8 But I 7 am full of the courage that the Lord’s Spirit gives,
and have a strong commitment to justice. 8
This enables me to confront Jacob with its rebellion,
and Israel with its sin. 9
3:9 Listen to this, you leaders of the family 10 of Jacob,
you rulers of the nation 11 of Israel!
You 12 hate justice
and pervert all that is right.
3:10 You 13 build Zion through bloody crimes, 14
Jerusalem 15 through unjust violence.
3:11 Her 16 leaders take bribes when they decide legal cases, 17
her priests proclaim rulings for profit,
and her prophets read omens for pay.
Yet they claim to trust 18 the Lord and say,
“The Lord is among us. 19
Disaster will not overtake 20 us!”
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 tn Or “seers.”
5 tn Or “the mustache,” or perhaps “the beard.” Cf. KJV, NAB, NRSV “cover their lips.”
6 tn Heb “for there will be no answer from God.”
7 sn The prophet Micah speaks here and contrasts himself with the mercenaries just denounced by the
8 tn Heb “am full of power, the Spirit of the
9 tn Heb “to declare to Jacob his rebellion and to Israel his sin.” The words “this enables me” are supplied in the translation for clarification.
10 tn Heb “house.”
11 tn Heb “house.”
12 tn Heb “who.” A new sentence was begun here in the translation for stylistic reasons (also at the beginning of v. 10).
13 tn Heb “who.”
14 tn Heb “bloodshed” (so NAB, NASB, NIV); NLT “murder.”
15 map For location see Map5 B1; Map6 F3; Map7 E2; Map8 F2; Map10 B3; JP1 F4; JP2 F4; JP3 F4; JP4 F4.
16 sn The pronoun Her refers to Jerusalem (note the previous line).
17 tn Heb “judge for a bribe.”
18 tn Heb “they lean upon” (so KJV, NIV, NRSV); NAB “rely on.”
19 tn Heb “Is not the
20 tn Or “come upon” (so many English versions); NCV “happen to us”; CEV “come to us.”
