Micah 4–5

The Lord’s Reign in Zion

4Now ^ait shall come to pass in the latter days

That the mountain of the Lord’s house

Shall be established on the top of the mountains,

And shall be exalted above the hills;

And peoples shall flow to it.

²Many nations shall come and say,

“Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,

To the house of the God of Jacob;

He will teach us His ways,

And we shall walk in His paths.”

For out of Zion the law shall go forth,

And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

³He shall judge between many peoples,

And rebuke strong nations afar off;

They shall beat their swords into ^bplowshares,

And their spears into ¹pruning hooks;

Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,

^cNeither shall they learn war anymore.

^4dBut everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree,

And no one shall make them afraid;

For the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.

⁵For all people walk each in the name of his god,

But ^ewe will walk in the name of the Lord our God

Forever and ever.

Zion’s Future Triumph

⁶“In that day,” says the Lord,

^f“I will assemble the lame,

^gI will gather the outcast

And those whom I have afflicted;

⁷I will make the lame ^ha remnant,

And the outcast a strong nation;

So the Lord ⁱwill reign over them in Mount Zion

From now on, even forever.

⁸And you, O tower of the flock,

The stronghold of the daughter of Zion,

To you shall it come,

Even the former dominion shall come,

The kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.”

⁹Now why do you cry aloud?

^jIs there no king in your midst?

Has your counselor perished?

For ^kpangs have seized you like a woman in ²labor.

¹⁰Be in pain, and labor to bring forth,

O daughter of Zion,

Like a woman in birth pangs.

For now you shall go forth from the city,

You shall dwell in the field,

And to ^lBabylon you shall go.

There you shall be delivered;

There the ^mLord will ⁿredeem you

From the hand of your enemies.

^11oNow also many nations have gathered against you,

Who say, “Let her be defiled,

And let our eye ^plook upon Zion.”

¹²But they do not know ^qthe thoughts of the Lord,

Nor do they understand His counsel;

For He will gather them ^rlike sheaves to the threshing floor.

¹³“Arise ^sand ^tthresh, O daughter of Zion;

For I will make your horn iron,

And I will make your hooves bronze;

You shall ^ubeat in pieces many peoples;

^vI will consecrate their gain to the Lord,

And their substance to ^wthe Lord of the whole earth.”

5Now gather yourself in troops,

O daughter of troops;

He has laid siege against us;

They will ^astrike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.

The Coming Messiah

²“But you, ^bBethlehem ^cEphrathah,

Though you are little ^damong the ^ethousands of Judah,

Yet out of you shall come forth to Me

The One to be ^fRuler in Israel,

^gWhose goings forth are from of old,

From ¹everlasting.”

³Therefore He shall give them up,

Until the time that ^hshe who is in labor has given birth;

Then ⁱthe remnant of His brethren

Shall return to the children of Israel.

⁴And He shall stand and ^jfeed ²His flock

In the strength of the Lord,

In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God;

And they shall abide,

For now He ^kshall be great

To the ends of the earth;

⁵And this One ^lshall be peace.

Judgment on Israel’s Enemies

When the Assyrian comes into our land,

And when he treads in our palaces,

Then we will raise against him

Seven shepherds and eight princely men.

⁶They shall ³waste with the sword the land of Assyria,

And the land of ^mNimrod at its entrances;

Thus He shall ⁿdeliver us from the Assyrian,

When he comes into our land

And when he treads within our borders.

⁷Then ^othe remnant of Jacob

Shall be in the midst of many peoples,

^pLike dew from the Lord,

Like showers on the grass,

That ⁴tarry for no man

Nor ⁵wait for the sons of men.

⁸And the remnant of Jacob

Shall be among the Gentiles,

In the midst of many peoples,

Like a ^qlion among the beasts of the forest,

Like a young lion among flocks of sheep,

Who, if he passes through,

Both treads down and tears in pieces,

And none can deliver.

⁹Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries,

And all your enemies shall be ⁶cut off.

¹⁰“And it shall be in that day,” says the Lord,

“That I will ^rcut ⁷off your ^shorses from your midst

And destroy your ^tchariots.

¹¹I will cut off the cities of your land

And throw down all your strongholds.

¹²I will cut off sorceries from your hand,

And you shall have no ^usoothsayers.

^13vYour carved images I will also cut off,

And your sacred pillars from your midst;

You shall ^wno more worship the work of your hands;

¹⁴I will pluck your ⁸wooden images from your midst;

Thus I will destroy your cities.

¹⁵And I will ^xexecute vengeance in anger and fury

On the nations that have not ⁹heard.”