Micah 4

Peace and Security through Obedience

⁴In days to come

the mountain of the Lord’s temple

shall be established as the highest of the mountains

and shall be raised up above the hills.

Peoples shall stream to it,^*

²and many nations shall come and say:

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

to the house of the God of Jacob,

that he may teach us his ways

and that we may walk in his paths.”

For out of Zion shall go forth instruction,

and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.^*

³He shall judge between many peoples

and shall arbitrate between strong nations far away;

they shall beat their swords into plowshares

and their spears into pruning hooks;

nation shall not lift up sword against nation;

neither shall they learn war any more;^*

⁴but they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees,

and no one shall make them afraid,

for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.^*

⁵For all the peoples walk,

each in the name of its god,

but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God

forever and ever.^*

Restoration Promised after Exile

⁶On that day, says the Lord,

I will assemble the lame

and gather those who have been driven away

and those whom I have afflicted.^*

⁷The lame I will make the remnant,

and those who were cast off, a strong nation,

and the Lord will reign over them in Mount Zion

now and forevermore.^*

⁸And you, O tower of the flock,

hill of daughter Zion,

to you it shall come,

the former dominion shall come,

the sovereignty of daughter Jerusalem.^*

⁹Now why do you cry aloud?

Is there no king in you?

Has your counselor perished,

that pangs have seized you like a woman in labor?^*

¹⁰Writhe and groan,^j O daughter Zion,

like a woman in labor,

for now you shall go forth from the city

and camp in the open country;

you shall go to Babylon.

There you shall be rescued;

there the Lord will redeem you

from the hands of your enemies.^*

¹¹Now many nations

are assembled against you,

saying, “Let her be profaned,

and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.”^*

¹²But they do not know

the thoughts of the Lord;

they do not understand his plan,

that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.^*

¹³Arise and thresh,

O daughter Zion,

for I will make your horn iron

and your hoofs bronze;

you shall beat in pieces many peoples

and shall^k devote their gain to the Lord,

their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.^*