Dead Sea Scrolls Textual Critical Edition – Micah

MurXII, Mas, LXX (): kings. 8HevXIIgr reads which is singular and means king. The change of meaning in 8HevXIIgr would be that would only refer back to Hezekiah only; MurXII, Masoretic and LXX’s plural refers back to Hezekiah, Ahaz and Jotham collectively.

MurXII^(vid), Mas: sins. 8HevXIIgr and LXX read which is singular and means sin. No change of meaning, as can refer to collective "sin", and not just necessarily one sin, and one sin only.

MurXII, Mas: into a plantation. 8HevXIIgr and LXX add meaning and before this word. No change of meaning.

4QXIIg: you shall give. MurXII and Masoretic read תתני, which means the exact same thing. The only difference is that the 4QXIIg has the paragogic-nun (ן), an older-form of verbs that eventually phased out by the Babylonian-exile. It’s inclusion in 4QXIIg may demonstrate either that the scribe was trying to bring back the older form, or is a testament to how old the text of Micah actually is (8th Century BCE).

4QXIIg: they will wail. MurXII and Masoretic read ונהה which means he will wail (singular). As we’re dealing with a verb (נהה), we need an antecedent (a word that it refers back to). In this case, we have to go back to verse 3 where we have the noun משפחה which means "family". Now even though the noun is singular, it is also known as a "collective noun", in that it refers to more than one thing as a whole (like the word "sheep" for instance"). For the reading of MurXII and Masoretic, this takes the noun משפחה just as a singular; the reading of 4QXIIg however takes it as a collective noun to which they will wail makes sense. Either way, in translation, there is no difference of meaning - the family of Israel will be wailing a bitter lament over their leaders.

Hebrew reconstruction from the Greek of 8HevXIIgr: - they have risen up (plural). Masoretic (backed up by the LXX’s ) reads יקומם, meaning have risen up (singular). As seen in footnote 5, nouns can either be collective or singular in nature. Here the Masoretic and the LXX have the verb קום in the singular (יקומם) to agree with the noun עם ("family") as a singular noun; 8HevXIIgr has קום in the plural to agree with עם as a collective noun.

Hebrew reconstruction from the Greek of 8HevXIIgr, LXX: - upto him. Masoretic omits, and MurXII isn’t extant here.

Hebrew reconstruction from the Greek of 8HevXIIgr (also seen in LXX): ανθαρη - he shall rise up against (singular). Masoretic reads ישאו which is plural meaning they shall rise up against. As seen in footnote 5 and 6, we again have the difference between the noun גוי (meaning nation) as a collective or as a singular entity.

Mas, LXX & 8HevXIIgr: he shall arise. 4QXIIf reads לא יצא meaning he shall not arise. The change of meaning to this verse is quite significant, due to the fact that this verse is taken as a prophecy regarding the Messiah: But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, too little to be among the thousands of Judah, from out of you one shall come forth on My behalf to be ruler in Israel; with the reading of 4QXIIf, this becomes But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, too little to be among the thousands of Judah, from out of you one shall not come forth on My behalf to be ruler in Israel. Due to 4QXIIf being quite fragmentary (containing only 5 letters from this verse extant), it is quite possible there are a few more variant readings that would’ve been in the original manuscript. Unfortunately, we don’t have much else to compare it to. It could also be a scribal mistake.