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LXX Micah

Septuagint

About this book
Chapter 4

1 And at the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, established on the tops of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and the peoples shall hasten to it. 2 And many nations shall go, and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and they shall show us his way, and we will walk in his paths:⁠ for out of Zion shall go forth a law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 3 And he shall judge among many peoples, and shall rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into sickles; and nation shall no more lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn to war any more. 4 And every one shall rest under his vine, and every one under his fig tree; and there shall be none to alarm them: for the mouth of the Lord Almighty has spoken these words. 5 For all other nations shall walk everyone in his own way, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever. 6 In that day, says the Lord, I will gather her that is bruised, and will receive her that is cast out, and those whom I rejected. 7 And I will make her that was bruised a remnant, and her that was rejected a mighty nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from now on, even for ever. 8 And you, dark tower of the flock, daughter of Zion, on you the dominion shall come and enter in, even the first kingdom from Babylon to the daughter of Jerusalem. 9 And now, why have you known evil things? was there not a king to you? or has your counsel perished that pangs as of a woman in labor have seized upon you?⁠ 10 Be in pain, and strengthen yourself, and draw near, daughter of Zion, as a woman in labor: for now you shall go forth out of the city, and shall lodge in the plain, and shall reach even to Babylon: from there the Lord your God shall deliver you, and from there he shall redeem you out of the hand of your enemies. 11 And now have many nations gathered against you, saying, We will rejoice, and our eyes shall look upon Zion. 12 But they do not know the thought of the Lord, and have not understood his counsel: for he has gathered them as sheaves of the floor. 13 Arise, and thresh them, daughter of Zion: for I will make your horns iron, and I will make your hoofs brass: and you shall melt nations among them, and shall utterly destroy many peoples, and shall consecrate their abundance to the Lord, and their strength to the Lord of all the earth. 14 Now the daughter of Ephraim will be completely hedged in: he has laid siege against us: they shall strike the tribes of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.

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Compare Micah 4:9 and LXX Micah 4:9

Hebrew Bible · Septuagint

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Summary

Micah asks “why are you now shouting so loudly?” addressing a present crisis. The Greek Septuagint changes this to “why did you learn evil things?” shifting the question from a present battle cry to a past accusation of sin.

Passages

Micah 4:9

Hebrew Bible
8 As for you, watchtower for the flock, fortress of Daughter Zion—your former dominion will be restored, the sovereignty that belongs to Daughter Jerusalem.” 9 Jerusalem, why are you now shouting so loudly? Has your king disappeared? Has your wise leader been destroyed? Is this why pain grips you as if you were a woman in labor? 10 Twist and strain, Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor! For you will leave the city and live in the open field. You will go to Babylon, but there you will be rescued. There the Lord will deliver you from the power of your enemies.
600–501 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Micah

LXX Micah 4:9

Septuagint
8 And you, dark tower of the flock, daughter of Zion, on you the dominion shall come and enter in, even the first kingdom from Babylon to the daughter of Jerusalem. 9 And now, why have you known evil things? was there not a king to you? or has your counsel perished that pangs as of a woman in labor have seized upon you? 10 Be in pain, and strengthen yourself, and draw near, daughter of Zion, as a woman in labor: for now you shall go forth out of the city, and shall lodge in the plain, and shall reach even to Babylon: from there the Lord your God shall deliver you, and from there he shall redeem you out of the hand of your enemies.
100–1 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in LXX Micah

References

"... The translator read תֵּדְעִי “you will know” or הוֹדִיעִי “you will make known” for תָּרִיעִי “raise a shout” (common resh/dalet confusion in the Assyrian square script or paleo-Hebrew script and missed yod or added waw). This mistake was likely influenced by reading רַע “evil, bad” for רֵעַ “a shout.” The two qatals אָבַד “he perished” and הֶחֱזִיקָךְ “it has seized you” influenced how the translator rendered tense in ἔγνως “you knew” and μὴ βασιλεὺς οὐκ ἦν σοι “was there no king for you?” Though the adverb of negation אֵין “there is/was not” can be used for past time, in the context the Hebrew would be most naturally understood in present time. However, the translator took advantage of the grammatical ambiguity to clarify the time reference for the target audience ..."
Steve Modugno, “Translation Shifts in LXX-Micah as Clues to its Theology and Ideology,” in Construction, Coherence and Connotations: Studies on the Septuagint, Apocryphal and Cognate Literature, ed. Johann Cook and Hermann-Josef Stipp (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2016), 178.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Micah 4:9 and LXX Micah 4:9

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