Micah 4:11-5:5

New International Version

¹¹But now many nations
    are gathered against you.
They say, “Let her be defiled,
    let our eyes gloat^(A) over Zion!”
¹²But they do not know
    the thoughts of the Lord;
they do not understand his plan,^(B)
    that he has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.
¹³“Rise and thresh,^(C) Daughter Zion,
    for I will give you horns of iron;
I will give you hooves of bronze,
    and you will break to pieces many nations.”^(D)
You will devote their ill-gotten gains to the Lord,^(E)
    their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

A Promised Ruler From Bethlehem

5 ^[a]Marshal your troops now, city of troops,
for a siege is laid against us.
They will strike Israel’s ruler
on the cheek^(F) with a rod.

²“But you, Bethlehem^(G) Ephrathah,^(H)
    though you are small among the clans^[b] of Judah,
out of you will come for me
    one who will be ruler^(I) over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,^(J)
    from ancient times.”^(K)

³Therefore Israel will be abandoned^(L)
until the time when she who is in labor bears a son,
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.

⁴He will stand and shepherd his flock^(M)
    in the strength of the Lord,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they will live securely, for then his greatness^(N)
    will reach to the ends of the earth.

⁵And he will be our peace^(O)
    when the Assyrians invade^(P) our land
    and march through our fortresses.
We will raise against them seven shepherds,
    even eight commanders,^(Q)