Verse 12
12. Witchcrafts and soothsayers will be removed.
Witchcrafts That witchcrafts were practiced in Judah in Micah’s age is stated also by Isaiah (Isaiah 2:6; Isaiah 8:19), but what was their precise nature cannot be determined, though necromancy seems to have played an important part (Isaiah 8:19). Some think that the expression “out of thine hand” limits the prophet’s implied condemnation to such “arts” as were performed with the hand. However, this is doubtful, since “out of thine hand” is equivalent to “from you” (compare Micah 2:1, “in the power of their hand,” equivalent to “in their power”; compare also Isaiah 1:12). The term used here is a general term denoting black arts and practices of every sort.
Soothsayers This also is a general term, denoting the persons who practice the “witchcrafts” mentioned in 12a. The Hebrew word seems to be a derivative from a noun meaning “cloud”; hence it may denote primarily persons who professed to read a hidden meaning in the movements of the clouds.
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