This verse also has textual problems, as is shown by the footnotes in Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation. The first word in the Hebrew, haʾish, may mean “Are there?” (as in King James Version) but is usually taken to be a short form of writing a longer word. This is thought to be either haʾeshsheh “Can I forget” (Revised Standard Version; compare Moffatt, New English Bible, New International Version; and among commentators, Smith, Allen, and Mays) or haʾessa “Can I bear?” (compare New American Bible, Jerusalem Bible, Deissler). Many translators and commentators also think that the Hebrew words translated in Revised Standard Version, “in the house of the wicked,” are too repetitive, and they therefore omit them (Jerusalem Bible, New American Bible, New English Bible, Moffatt, Mays, Deissler). However, despite these uncertainties the Hebrew text can make sense as it stands, and Good News Translation translates it without any changes or omissions.

Note, however, that the Hebrew is in the form of a question, to which the answer “Yes” is clearly expected. Good News Translation turns this into a positive statement in order to avoid any misunderstanding of the question.

The theme of this verse is opposite of what the Lord required in verse 8. Evil men have in their houses treasures which they got dishonestly. These treasures included not only money but also all the rich goods and luxuries that money can buy. The adverb dishonestly may need to be expanded into “by cheating in business.” The following sentence shows that this is indeed its meaning.

The particular form of cheating mentioned here involved the use of false measures. These were measuring containers that held less than they should. When a customer bought something that needed to be measured, the merchant would measure it out with false measures, and the customer would get less than he had paid for. If it is difficult to express this concept in this way, a translator can try to describe what happened: “merchants cheat their customers by giving them less than they have paid for,” or something like that.

The Lord says that this is a thing that I hate. Thing here refers to the false measures, but if this is not mentioned in a translation, and the action of cheating is described instead, then a different word will have to be used in place of thing. A translator may say, for instance, “This kind of behavior is something I hate.” This type of cheating is mentioned frequently in the writings of the prophets (Hos 12.7; Amos 8.5).

Although the use of false measures was one way that the evil men became rich, it was obviously not the only way. The various things mentioned in this verse and in verses 11 and 12 should probably be understood as a list of various sins that are typical of the rich people. Good News Translation‘s wording of this verse does not mean that all the treasures of the evil men were acquired simply by using false measures.

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 .