The enemies in verse 8 were ready to gloat over the defeat and misfortune of the Lord’s people. But when the Lord saves his people, the position will be reversed, and these enemies will see this and be disgraced themselves. This refers to the things that the Lord will do to save his people and bring them out to the light, as stated in verse 9. When they see this, the enemies will realize how great the Lord really is, and they will be disgraced. That is, they will feel great shame for what they have done and said to the people of Israel.

When the Lord’s people were suffering, their enemies interpreted this to mean that their God was unable to save them. Thus they asked the scornful question Where is the LORD your God? The fact that the question was not a request for information but was intended to be scornful is indicated in Good News Translation by the expression taunted us by asking. Many translators will find it helpful to use some term that carries implications of scorn similar to those carried by taunted in English.

This mocking question Where is the LORD your God? is not a real question but a rhetorical one. The enemies really meant that the Lord was nowhere, or at least that he was so weak that it did not matter where he was. If this meaning is not clear in a translation, then the translation should be restructured to make it clear. One possibility is to say “The Lord your God cannot help you.” Translators should try to make the words of the enemies sound mocking, like a taunt.

The enemies of God’s people will in their turn suffer the same kind of fate that they inflicted on others. Israel will see them defeated, trampled down like mud in the streets. The Hebrew translated We will see them is more literally “Our eyes will look at them.” This may mean simply that the time will come when God’s people see their enemies in this lowly position, without saying how they feel about it. This is the meaning followed by the Good News Translation text. However, it is also quite possible that the Hebrew expression implies that God’s people will be glad to see their enemies trampled down. Revised Standard Version “gloat over” follows this interpretation (compare Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible), and Good News Translation also gives this alternative in the footnote. “Gloat over” here can be translated as “be happy to see” or even “laugh at.”

Trampled down like mud in the streets: when people walk in the streets, they trample down any mud that may be lying there, without even thinking about it. By comparing their enemies to mud, the prophet is saying that the enemies are weak and of no importance. If it is necessary to say who does the trampling, it is possible to translate something like “We will see their enemies come and defeat them and destroy them, just as easily as men trample down the mud in the streets.” If a language has no special word for trampled down or “trodden down” (Revised Standard Version), this means simply “walked on” or “stepped on.”

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 .