Texts in Conversation
Micah addresses “rulers of the nation of Israel.” The Greek Septuagint changes this to “you who are left remaining of the house of Israel,” shifting the audience from Israel’s leaders to the scattered remnant living in exile.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Micah 3:1
Hebrew Bible
1 I said, “Listen, you leaders of Jacob, you rulers of the nation of Israel! You ought to know what is just, 2 yet you hate what is good and love what is evil. You flay my people’s skin and rip the flesh from their bones. 3 You devour my people’s flesh, strip off their skin, and crush their bones. You chop them up like flesh in a pot—like meat in a kettle.
LXX Micah 3:1
Septuagint
1 And he shall say, Hear now these words, you heads of the house of Jacob, and you remnant of the house of Israel; is it not for you to know judgment? 2 who hate good, and seek evil; who tear their skins off them, and their flesh off their bones: 3 even as they devoured the flesh of my people, and stripped their skins off them, and broke their bones, and divided them as flesh for the caldron, and as meat for the pot,
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Notes and References
"... Micah 3:1 and 3:9 reflect historicising shifts via lexical changes. There the translator rendered וּקְצִינֵי בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל “and rulers of the house of Israel” as καὶ οἱ κατάλοιποι οἴκου Ισραηλ “and you who are left of the house of Israel.” Many commentators suggest that the shifts reflect a mistaken reading of קָצִין as some form of קָצֵץ “to cut off,” קָצָה “end,” or קָצֶה “end.” However, the plain sense of קָצִין “chief, ruler” elsewhere in the Masoretic Text is maintained by the Septuagint (ἀρχηγός “leader” [Judges 11:6, 11]; ἄρχων “ruler” [Isaiah 1:10; 22:3]; ἐνάρχομαι “to begin” [Joshua 10:24]; βασιλεύς “king” [Proverbs 25:15]). In my opinion, the strongest explanation for the shifts in 3:1 and 3:9 comes from Aaron Schart (2011, 2285) who argues that these shifts reflect the translator's intention to include the diaspora in the threats to follow ..."
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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