Micah 6:6-9

¹ sn With what should I enter the Lord’s presence? The prophet speaks again, playing the role of an inquisitive worshiper who wants to know what God really desires from his followers.

² tn The words “with what” do double duty in the parallelism and are supplied in the second line of the translation for clarification.

³ tn Or “the exalted God.”

⁴ tn Heb “the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul.” The Hebrew term נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh) is often translated “soul,” but the word usually refers to the whole person; here “the sin of my soul” = “my sin.”

⁵ sn What the Lord really wants from you. Now the prophet switches roles and answers the hypothetical worshiper’s question. He makes it clear that the Lord desires proper attitudes more than ritual and sacrifice.

⁶ tn Heb “except.” This statement is actually linked with what precedes, “What does he want from you except….”

⁷ tn Heb “to do,” in the sense of “promote.”

⁸ tn Heb “to love faithfulness.”

⁹ tn Heb “to walk humbly [or perhaps, “carefully”] with.”

¹⁰ tn Or “the voice of the Lord is calling.” The translation understands קוֹל (qol, “voice”) as equivalent to an imperative.

¹¹ tn Heb “one who sees your name is wisdom.” It is probably better to emend יִרְאֶה (yir’eh, “he sees”) to יִרְאָה (yir’ah, “fearing”). One may then translate, “fearing your name is wisdom.” The Lord’s “name” here stands by metonymy for his authority.

¹² tn Heb (apparently) “Listen [to] the staff and the one who appointed it.” Verse 10 then begins with עוֹד (yod, “still” or “again”). The translation assumes an emendation to שִׁמְעוּ מַטֶּה וּמוֹעֵד הָעִיר (shim’u matteh umo’ed ha’ir, “listen, O tribe and the assembly of the city”).