Micah 4-5

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.”