1. Bethlehem. This is David’s hometown, and so the idea of a ruler coming forth from this place is a signal of the future continuity of the Davidic dynasty.

2. give them over. The Hebrew says, somewhat enigmatically, merely “give them,” but this is probably an ellipsis for “give them into the hands of their enemies.” The kingdom of Judah, then, is to be subjugated until a crucial moment of transition, when the ideal Davidic ruler will be born.

3. dwell secure. “Secure” is merely implied.

for then shall he be great to the ends of the earth. It is highly unlikely that this is a prophecy of global empire commanded by the Davidic king. Rather, his reign will be so glorious that the fame of it will reach the ends of the earth.

4. seven shepherds / and eight princes of the peoples. The numeric progression from first verset to second is a familiar convention of biblical poetry. The seven shepherds and eight princes are in all likelihood foreign rulers allied with Judah. “Princes of the peoples” is literally “princes of humankind,” which would mean “non-Judahites.”

7. like a lion among forest beasts. The “beasts” are deer and other forest creatures vulnerable to the fierce predation of the lion. In any case, there is a striking contradiction between the imagery of this verse and the preceding one. First, the people of Israel is figured as a gentle blessing—dew and rain—for all the nations. Now it is depicted as a furious force destroying nations. Some have tried to reconcile the contradiction temporally: first Judah will be a militant power, then, after its victory, a beneficent presence. But if that is the prophet’s intention, it remains puzzling that the dew image should precede the lion image.

9. And it shall happen on that day. This is clearly a new prophecy, not of redemption but of doom. The editorial signal for inserting it here is probably the occurrence of the verb “cut off” in the second line of this prophecy, which picks up the use of the same verb at the end of the preceding prophecy.

11. sorcery from your hands. “From your hands” (the Hebrew uses a singular) probably means “that you possess,” although it may also refer to the actual manipulation of divinatory instruments in the hands of the soothsayer. For this reason, the translation renders the idiom literally.

12. idols / . . . cultic pillars. The castigation of paganism is somewhat unusual for Micah, whose main focus is on social injustice.

13. I will destroy your icons. The Masoretic Text reads “I will destroy your towns [ʿareykha].” This looks rather odd in a catalogue of destruction of pagan cultic objects and may well be an inadvertent scribal replication of the destruction of “towns” in verse 10. This translation assumes the original text reads ʿatsabeykha, “your icons.”

14. I will act in anger . . . / toward the nations. This last verse does not seem to belong to a prophecy about the devastation of idolatrous Israel. It may have been added editorially in order to mitigate the grimness of the prophecy of doom. Alternately, the prophet might be saying that the same dire fate which will overtake Israel awaits the nations that do not heed God’s word.