Micah 4-7

New King James Version

The Lord’s Reign in Zion^(A)

4 Now ^(B)it 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 ^(C)plowshares,
And their spears into ^[a]pruning hooks;
Nation shall not lift up sword against nation,
^(D)Neither shall they learn war anymore.

⁴^(E)But 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 ^(F)we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
Forever and ever.

Zion’s Future Triumph

⁶“In that day,” says the Lord,
^(G)“I will assemble the lame,
^(H)I will gather the outcast
And those whom I have afflicted;
⁷I will make the lame ^(I)a remnant,
And the outcast a strong nation;
So the Lord ^(J)will 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?
^(K)Is there no king in your midst?
Has your counselor perished?
For ^(L)pangs have seized you like a woman in ^[b]labor.
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 ^(M)Babylon you shall go.
There you shall be delivered;
There the ^(N)Lord will ^(O)redeem you
From the hand of your enemies.

¹¹^(P)Now also many nations have gathered against you,
Who say, “Let her be defiled,
And let our eye ^(Q)look upon Zion.”
¹²But they do not know ^(R)the thoughts of the Lord,
Nor do they understand His counsel;
For He will gather them ^(S)like sheaves to the threshing floor.

¹³“Arise^(T) and ^(U)thresh, O daughter of Zion;
For I will make your horn iron,
And I will make your hooves bronze;
You shall ^(V)beat in pieces many peoples;
^(W)I will consecrate their gain to the Lord,
And their substance to ^(X)the Lord of the whole earth.”

The Messiah Will Be Born at Bethlehem

5 Now gather yourself in troops,
O daughter of troops;
He has laid siege against us;
They will ^(Y)strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.

The Coming Messiah

²“But you, ^(Z)Bethlehem ^(AA)Ephrathah,
Though you are little ^(AB)among the ^(AC)thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be ^(AD)Ruler in Israel,
^(AE)Whose goings forth are from of old,
From ^[c]everlasting.”

³Therefore He shall give them up,
Until the time that ^(AF)she who is in labor has given birth;
Then ^(AG)the remnant of His brethren
Shall return to the children of Israel.
⁴And He shall stand and ^(AH)feed^[d] His 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 ^(AI)shall be great
To the ends of the earth;
⁵And this One ^(AJ)shall 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 ^[e]waste with the sword the land of Assyria,
And the land of ^(AK)Nimrod at its entrances;
Thus He shall ^(AL)deliver us from the Assyrian,
When he comes into our land
And when he treads within our borders.

⁷Then ^(AM)the remnant of Jacob
Shall be in the midst of many peoples,
^(AN)Like dew from the Lord,
Like showers on the grass,
That ^[f]tarry for no man
Nor ^[g]wait for the sons of men.
⁸And the remnant of Jacob
Shall be among the Gentiles,
In the midst of many peoples,
Like a ^(AO)lion 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 ^[h]cut off.

¹⁰“And it shall be in that day,” says the Lord,
“That I will ^(AP)cut^[i] off your ^(AQ)horses from your midst
And destroy your ^(AR)chariots.
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 ^(AS)soothsayers.
¹³^(AT)Your carved images I will also cut off,
And your sacred pillars from your midst;
You shall ^(AU)no more worship the work of your hands;
¹⁴I will pluck your ^[j]wooden images from your midst;
Thus I will destroy your cities.
¹⁵And I will ^(AV)execute vengeance in anger and fury
On the nations that have not ^[k]heard.”

God Pleads with Israel

6 Hear now what the Lord says:

“Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
And let the hills hear your voice.
²^(AW)Hear, O you mountains, ^(AX)the Lord’s complaint,
And you strong foundations of the earth;
For ^(AY)the Lord has a complaint against His people,
And He will ^[l]contend with Israel.

³“O My people, what ^(AZ)have I done to you?
And how have I ^(BA)wearied you?
Testify against Me.
⁴^(BB)For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
I redeemed you from the house of bondage;
And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
⁵O My people, remember now
What ^(BC)Balak king of Moab counseled,
And what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
From ^[m]Acacia Grove to Gilgal,
That you may know ^(BD)the righteousness of the Lord.”

⁶With what shall I come before the Lord,
And bow myself before the High God?
Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings,
With calves a year old?
⁷^(BE)Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams,
Ten thousand ^(BF)rivers of oil?
^(BG)Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
^[n]The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

⁸He has ^(BH)shown you, O man, what is good;
And what does the Lord require of you
But ^(BI)to do justly,
To love ^[o]mercy,
And to walk humbly with your God?

Punishment of Israel’s Injustice

⁹The Lord’s voice cries to the city—
Wisdom shall see Your name:

“Hear the rod!
Who has appointed it?
¹⁰Are there yet the treasures of wickedness
In the house of the wicked,
And the short measure that is an abomination?
¹¹Shall I count pure those with ^(BJ)the wicked scales,
And with the bag of deceitful weights?
¹²For her rich men are full of ^(BK)violence,
Her inhabitants have spoken lies,
And ^(BL)their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

¹³“Therefore I will also ^(BM)make you sick by striking you,
By making you desolate because of your sins.
¹⁴^(BN)You shall eat, but not be satisfied;
^[p]Hunger shall be in your midst.
You may carry some away,^[q] but shall not save them;
And what you do rescue I will give over to the sword.

¹⁵“You shall ^(BO)sow, but not reap;
You shall tread the olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
And make sweet wine, but not drink wine.
¹⁶For the statutes of ^(BP)Omri are ^(BQ)kept;
All the works of Ahab’s house are done;
And you walk in their counsels,
That I may make you a ^[r]desolation,
And your inhabitants a hissing.
Therefore you shall bear the ^(BR)reproach of ^[s]My people.”

Sorrow for Israel’s Sins

7 Woe is me!
For I am like those who gather summer fruits,
Like those who ^(BS)glean vintage grapes;
There is no cluster to eat
Of the first-ripe fruit which ^(BT)my soul desires.
²The ^(BU)faithful^[t] man has perished from the earth,
And there is no one upright among men.
They all lie in wait for blood;
^(BV)Every man hunts his brother with a net.

³That they may successfully do evil with both hands—
The prince asks for gifts,
The judge seeks a ^(BW)bribe,
And the great man utters his evil desire;
So they scheme together.
⁴The best of them is ^(BX)like a brier;
The most upright is sharper than a thorn hedge;
The day of your watchman and your punishment comes;
Now shall be their perplexity.

⁵^(BY)Do not trust in a friend;
Do not put your confidence in a companion;
Guard the doors of your mouth
From her who lies in your ^(BZ)bosom.
⁶For ^(CA)son dishonors father,
Daughter rises against her mother,
Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
A man’s enemies are the men of his own household.
⁷Therefore I will look to the Lord;
I will ^(CB)wait for the God of my salvation;
My God will hear me.

Israel’s Confession and Comfort

⁸^(CC)Do not rejoice over me, my enemy;
^(CD)When I fall, I will arise;
When I sit in darkness,
The Lord will be a light to me.
⁹^(CE)I will bear the indignation of the Lord,
Because I have sinned against Him,
Until He pleads my ^(CF)case
And executes justice for me.
He will bring me forth to the light;
I will see His righteousness.
¹⁰Then she who is my enemy will see,
And ^(CG)shame will cover her who said to me,
^(CH)“Where is the Lord your God?”
My eyes will see her;
Now she will be trampled down
Like mud in the streets.

¹¹In the day when your ^(CI)walls are to be built,
In that day ^[u]the decree shall go far and wide.
¹²In that day ^(CJ)they^[v] shall come to you
From Assyria and the ^[w]fortified cities,
From the ^[x]fortress to ^[y]the River,
From sea to sea,
And mountain to mountain.
¹³Yet the land shall be desolate
Because of those who dwell in it,
And ^(CK)for the fruit of their deeds.

God Will Forgive Israel

¹⁴Shepherd Your people with Your staff,
The flock of Your heritage,
Who dwell ^[z]solitarily in a ^(CL)woodland,
In the midst of Carmel;
Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead,
As in days of old.

¹⁵“As^(CM) in the days when you came out of the land of Egypt,
I will show ^[aa]them ^(CN)wonders.”

¹⁶The nations ^(CO)shall see and be ashamed of all their might;
^(CP)They shall put their hand over their mouth;
Their ears shall be deaf.
¹⁷They shall lick the ^(CQ)dust like a serpent;
^(CR)They shall crawl from their holes like ^[ab]snakes of the earth.
^(CS)They shall be afraid of the Lord our God,
And shall fear because of You.
¹⁸^(CT)Who is a God like You,
^(CU)Pardoning iniquity
And passing over the transgression of ^(CV)the remnant of His heritage?

^(CW)He does not retain His anger forever,
Because He delights in ^(CX)mercy.^[ac]
¹⁹He will again have compassion on us,
And will subdue our iniquities.

You will cast all ^[ad]our sins
Into the depths of the sea.
²⁰^(CY)You will give truth to Jacob
And ^[ae]mercy to Abraham,
^(CZ)Which You have sworn to our fathers
From days of old.