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“I will turn Samaria into a heap of ruins in an open field,

into a place for planting vineyards.
I will dump the rubble of her walls[a] down into the valley
and lay bare her foundations.[b]
All her carved idols will be smashed to pieces;
all her metal cult statues will be destroyed by fire.[c]
I will make a waste heap[d] of all her images.
Since[e] she gathered the metal[f] as a prostitute collects her wages,
the idols will become a prostitute’s wages again.”[g]

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Footnotes

  1. Micah 1:6 tn Heb “her stones.” The term “stones” is a metonymy for the city walls whose foundations were constructed of stone masonry.
  2. Micah 1:6 tn Heb “I will uncover her foundations.” The term “foundations” refers to the lower courses of the stones of the city’s outer fortification walls.
  3. Micah 1:7 tn Heb “and all her prostitute’s wages will be burned with fire.”sn The precious metal used by Samaria’s pagan worship centers to make idols is compared to a prostitute’s wages because Samaria had been unfaithful to the Lord and prostituted herself to pagan gods such as Baal.
  4. Micah 1:7 tn Heb “I will make desolate” (so NASB).
  5. Micah 1:7 tn Or “for” (KJV, NASB, NRSV).
  6. Micah 1:7 tn No object is specified in the Hebrew text; the words “the metal” are supplied from the context.
  7. Micah 1:7 tn Heb “for from a prostitute’s wages she gathered, and to a prostitute’s wages they will return.” When the metal was first collected it was comparable to the coins a prostitute would receive for her services. The metal was then formed into idols, but now the Lord’s fiery judgment would reduce the metal images to their original condition.