Micah 4:1-5:4

Contemporary English Version

The Lord will teach us his Law
from Jerusalem,
    and we will obey him.
^3 (A) He will settle arguments
between distant
    and powerful nations.
They will pound their swords
and their spears
    into rakes and shovels;
they will never again make war
    or attack one another.
^4 (B) Everyone will find rest
beneath their own fig trees
    or grape vines,
and they will live in peace.
This is a solemn promise
    of the Lord All-Powerful.

⁵ Others may follow their gods,
but we will always follow
    the Lord our God.

⁹ Jerusalem, why are you crying?
Don't you have a king?
    Have your advisors gone?
Are you suffering
    like a woman in childbirth?
¹⁰ Keep on groaning with pain,
    you people of Jerusalem!
If you escape from your city
    to the countryside,
you will still be taken
    as prisoners to Babylonia.
But later I will rescue you
    from your enemies.

¹¹ Zion, because of your sins
you are surrounded
    by many nations who say,
“We can hardly wait
    to see you disgraced.”^[a]
12 But they don't know
    that I, the Lord,
have gathered them here
    to grind them like grain.
¹³ Smash them to pieces, Zion!
I'll let you be like a bull
    with iron horns
    and bronze hoofs.
Crush those nations
and bring their wealth to me,
    the Lord of the earth.

^2 (C) Bethlehem Ephrath,
you are one of the smallest towns
    in the nation of Judah.
But the Lord will choose
one of your people
    to rule the nation—
someone whose family
    goes back to ancient times.^[c]
3 The Lord will abandon Israel
    only until this ruler is born,
and the rest of his family^[d]
    returns to Israel.
⁴ Like a shepherd
    taking care of his sheep,
this ruler will lead
    and care for his people
by the power and glorious name
    of the Lord his God.
His people will live securely,
and the whole earth will know
    his true greatness,