The result of the social evil described in verses 2-3 is that nobody can be trusted. The wisest advice the prophet can give is Don’t believe your neighbor or trust your friend. If it is difficult to find different words for neighbor and friend, it is possible to translate these two Hebrew expressions as “friend” and “special friend” or “close friend.” Believe and trust mean almost the same thing here, and if necessary the same word can be used, or this can be translated as “Do not trust your neighbor or even your friend.”

The relationships mentioned become increasingly close, and from neighbor and friend we even move on to wife. The Hebrew employs two figurative expressions in this sentence. “Guard the doors of your mouth” (Revised Standard Version) sounds very strange in many languages if translated literally, and most translators will prefer to use plain language such as Good News Translation‘s Be careful what you say. The second figurative expression is “her who lies in your bosom” (Revised Standard Version). This reference suggests the intimacy of a sexual embrace and shows that there can no longer be full trust between people even in this, the most intimate of human relationships. Good News Translation‘s even to your wife conveys the basic meaning but loses the emotional effect of the Hebrew. Translators may be able to regain some of this effect by saying “your wife whom you love.”

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 .