Verses 12 and 13 form a marked contrast in theme with those that precede and follow. They speak of the restoration of the nation from its place of exile. The contrast has led many scholars to consider them a later addition to the text, but this problem does not really affect the translation. Verse 12 is in the first person, and for this reason is included within quotation marks in Good News Translation as being a continuing part of the Lord’s words beginning in verse 8. Good News Translation ends this quotation at the end of verse 12, because verse 13 is in the third person and is taken as the prophet’s comment on or expansion of verse 12. Such changes of person are quite common in prophetic writings and are not necessarily a conclusive guide to a change of speaker, though it does seem the most probable interpretation in this case. Most English translations do not use quotation marks here and therefore do not commit themselves on this point. However, New International Version places all of verses 12 and 13 within quotes and thus seems to regard them as the words of the Lord in a prophecy separate from verses 6-11. Another view is that these two verses are spoken by Micah’s opponents, the false prophets. If this is the case, then they are a response to the threat of exile in verse 10 and offer the people of Israel only a false sense of security. This is the view of de Waard.

Verse 12 is addressed to “Jacob” and “the remnant of Israel” (Revised Standard Version). (For a discussion of the term “remnant,” see comments on 4.7.) These two terms together signify the entire nation, or at least all those members of it that are left. The you (plural) of this verse does not refer to the same group of people who were addressed in verses 8-10. Here the whole nation is addressed, though it is not likely that the oppressors of verses 8-10 will be included in those that are left (see verse 5). Note that Good News Translation has felt that it is clearer to use only the single name Israel to refer to the people.

The Lord’s promise is that he will gather them all together. This is then repeated in synonymous terms, I will bring you together, and expanded with a lengthy simile. The second verb used in the Hebrew, translated bring … together in Good News Translation, is the verb most commonly associated in the writings of the prophets with the restoration of Israel from exile. See for instance Isa 43.5; Jer 23.3; 31.8. As in verse 5, it is assumed that the whole nation will be going into exile. This has not really been stated in the preceding verses, and a reader may have thought that only the oppressors will be punished, although verse 10 may imply the whole country being destroyed. It may be necessary for some translators to make this explicit in verse 12 and say “I will bring you together from the places where you have been exiled.” (Good News Translation has made the exile explicit in verse 13.)

The simile used in the latter part of the verse is that of sheep returning to the fold. The sheep of course stand for the Lord’s people, and the fold for the land of Israel. Just as a pasture is full of sheep, so the land will once again be filled with many people. The Hebrew implies a scene of “noisy” (Revised Standard Version) and bustling activity, as of a thriving community. A fold is an area enclosed by walls where the sheep may be taken for protection at night. A pasture is an area with plenty of grass, where the sheep spend most of their time. It is not enclosed by walls. In Revised Standard Version the two comparisons with “sheep in a fold” and “a flock in its pasture” seem to be a parallelism, which a translator will not necessarily have to translate twice. But Good News Translation has understood these to be two separate comparisons. The people being brought back from exile are like sheep returning to the fold. The land … filled with many people is compared to a pasture full of sheep. The Hebrew text again has some uncertainties of detail, but the overall meaning is plain.

Quoted with permission from Clark, David J. et al. A Handbook on Micah. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1978, 1982, 1993. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .