Micah 4
New English Translation
Better Days Ahead for Jerusalem
4 And in future days[a] the Lord’s Temple Mount will be the most important mountain of all;[b]
it will be more prominent than other hills.[c]
People will stream to it.
2 Many nations will come, saying,
“Come on! Let’s go up to the Lord’s mountain,
to the temple of Jacob’s God,
so he can teach us his ways
and we can live by his laws.”[d]
For instruction will proceed from Zion,
the Lord’s message from Jerusalem.
3 He will arbitrate[e] between many peoples
and settle disputes between many[f] distant nations.[g]
They will beat their swords into plowshares,[h]
and their spears into pruning hooks.[i]
Nations will not use weapons[j] against other nations,
and they will no longer train for war.
4 Each will sit under his own grapevine
or under his own fig tree without any fear.[k]
The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has decreed it.[l]
5 Though all the nations follow their respective gods,[m]
we will follow[n] the Lord our God forever.
Restoration Will Follow Crisis
6 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will gather the lame
and assemble the outcasts whom I injured.[o]
7 I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation,[p]
and those far off[q] into a mighty nation.
The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion,
from that day forward and forevermore.[r]
8 As for you, watchtower for the flock,[s]
fortress of Daughter Zion[t]—
your former dominion will be restored,[u]
the sovereignty that belongs to Daughter Jerusalem.”
9 Jerusalem, why are you[v] now shouting so loudly?[w]
Has your king disappeared?[x]
Has your wise leader[y] been destroyed?
Is this why[z] pain grips[aa] you as if you were a woman in labor?
10 Twist and strain,[ab] Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor!
For you will leave the city
and live in the open field.
You will go to Babylon,
but there you will be rescued.
There the Lord will deliver[ac] you
from the power[ad] of your enemies.
11 Many nations have now assembled against you.
They say, “Jerusalem must be desecrated,[ae]
so we can gloat over Zion!”[af]
12 But they do not know what the Lord is planning;
they do not understand his strategy.
He has gathered them like stalks of grain to be threshed[ag] at the threshing floor.
13 “Get up and thresh, Daughter Zion!
For I will give you iron horns;[ah]
I will give you bronze hooves,
and you will crush many nations.”[ai]
You will devote to the Lord the spoils you take from them
and dedicate their wealth to the sovereign Ruler[aj] of the whole earth.[ak]
Footnotes
- Micah 4:1 sn Cf. Isa 2:2. See the note at Gen 49:1.
- Micah 4:1 tn Heb “will be established as the head of the mountains.”
- Micah 4:1 tn Heb “it will be lifted up above the hills.”
- Micah 4:2 tn Heb “and we can walk in his paths.”
- Micah 4:3 tn Or “judge.”
- Micah 4:3 tn Or “mighty” (NASB); KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “strong”; TEV “among the great powers.”
- Micah 4:3 tn Heb “[for many nations] to a distance.”
- Micah 4:3 sn Instead of referring to the large plow as a whole, the plowshare is simply the metal tip which actually breaks the earth and cuts the furrow.
- Micah 4:3 sn This implement was used to prune the vines, i.e., to cut off extra leaves and young shoots (M. Klingbeil, NIDOTTE 1:1117-18). It was a short knife with a curved hook at the end sharpened on the inside like a sickle.
- Micah 4:3 tn Heb “take up the sword.”
- Micah 4:4 tn Heb “and there will be no one making [him] afraid.”
- Micah 4:4 tn Heb “for the mouth of the Lord…has spoken.”
- Micah 4:5 tn Heb “walk each in the name of his god.” The term “name” here has the idea of “authority.” To “walk in the name” of a god is to recognize the god’s authority as binding over one’s life.
- Micah 4:5 tn Heb “walk in the name of.”
- Micah 4:6 sn The exiles of the nation are compared to lame and injured sheep.
- Micah 4:7 tn Heb “make the lame into a remnant.”
- Micah 4:7 tn The precise meaning of this difficult form is uncertain. The present translation assumes the form is a Niphal participle of an otherwise unattested denominative verb הָלָא (halaʾ, “to be far off”; see BDB 229 s.v.), but attractive emendations include הַנַּחֲלָה (hannakhalah, “the sick one[s]”) from חָלָה (khalah) and הַנִּלְאָה (hannilʾah, “the weary one[s]”) from לָאָה (laʾah).
- Micah 4:7 tn Heb “from now until forever.”
- Micah 4:8 tn Heb “Migdal Eder.” Some English versions transliterate this phrase, apparently because they view it as a place name (cf. NAB).
- Micah 4:8 sn The city of David, located within Jerusalem, is addressed as Daughter Zion. As the home of the Davidic king, who was Israel’s shepherd (Ps 78:70-72), the royal citadel could be viewed metaphorically as the watchtower of the flock.
- Micah 4:8 tn Heb “to you it will come, the former dominion will arrive.”
- Micah 4:9 tn The Hebrew form is feminine singular, indicating that Jerusalem, personified as a young woman, is now addressed (see v. 10). In v. 8 the tower/fortress was addressed with masculine forms, so there is clearly a shift in addressee here. “Jerusalem” has been supplied in the translation at the beginning of v. 9 to make this shift apparent.
- Micah 4:9 tn Heb “Now why are you shouting [with] a shout.”
- Micah 4:9 tn Heb “Is there no king over you?”
- Micah 4:9 tn Traditionally, “counselor” (cf. KJV, NAB, NASB, NIV, NRSV). This refers to the king mentioned in the previous line; the title points to the king’s roles as chief strategist and policy maker, both of which required extraordinary wisdom.
- Micah 4:9 tn Heb “that.” The Hebrew particle כִּי (ki) is used here in a resultative sense; for this use see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 73, §450.
- Micah 4:9 tn Heb “grabs hold of, seizes.”
- Micah 4:10 tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”
- Micah 4:10 tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
- Micah 4:10 tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.
- Micah 4:11 tn Heb “let her be desecrated.” The referent (Jerusalem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Micah 4:11 tn Heb “and let our eye look upon Zion.” This is a Hebrew idiom for a typically smug or condescending look by someone in a superior position.
- Micah 4:12 tn The words “to be threshed” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation to make it clear that the Lord is planning to enable “Daughter Zion” to “thresh” her enemies.
- Micah 4:13 tn Heb “I will make your horn iron.”
- Micah 4:13 sn Jerusalem (Daughter Zion at the beginning of the verse; cf. 4:8) is here compared to a powerful ox which crushes the grain on the threshing floor with its hooves.
- Micah 4:13 tn Or “the Lord” (so many English versions); Heb “the master.”
- Micah 4:13 tn Heb “and their wealth to the master of all the earth.” The verb “devote” does double duty in the parallelism and is supplied in the second line for clarification.sn In vv. 11-13 the prophet jumps from the present crisis (which will result in exile, v. 10) to a time beyond the restoration of the exiles when God will protect his city from invaders. The Lord’s victory over the Assyrian armies in 701 b.c. foreshadowed this.
Micah 4
Christian Standard Bible
The Lord’s Rule from Restored Zion
4 In the last days(A)
the mountain of the Lord’s house(B)
will be established
at the top of the mountains
and will be raised above the hills.
Peoples will stream to it,(C)
2 and many nations will come and say,(D)
“Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord,(E)
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us about his ways(F)
so we may walk in his paths.”
For instruction will go out of Zion(G)
and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.
3 He will settle disputes among many peoples(H)
and provide arbitration for strong nations
that are far away.
They will beat their swords into plows
and their spears into pruning knives.
Nation will not take up the sword against nation,
and they will never again train for war.
4 But each person will sit under his grapevine(I)
and under his fig tree
with no one to frighten him.(J)
For the mouth of the Lord(K) of Armies
has spoken.
5 Though all the peoples walk
in the name of their own gods,(L)
we will walk(M) in the name of the Lord our God
forever and ever.(N)
6 On that day—
this is the Lord’s declaration—
I will assemble the lame
and gather the scattered,(O)
those I have injured.
7 I will make the lame into a remnant,(P)
those far removed into a strong nation.
Then the Lord will reign over them(Q) in Mount Zion
from this time on and forever.
8 And you, watchtower for the flock,(R)
fortified hill[a] of Daughter Zion,
the former rule(S) will come to you;
sovereignty will come to Daughter Jerusalem.
From Exile to Victory
9 Now, why are you shouting loudly?(T)
Is there no king with you?
Has your counselor perished(U)
so that anguish grips you like a woman in labor?
10 Writhe and cry out,[b](V) Daughter Zion,
like a woman in labor,
for now you will leave the city(W)
and camp in the open fields.
You will go to Babylon;
there you will be rescued;(X)
there the Lord will redeem you(Y)
from the grasp of your enemies!
11 Many nations have now assembled against you;(Z)
they say, “Let her be defiled,
and let us feast our eyes on Zion.”
12 But they do not know the Lord’s intentions(AA)
or understand his plan,
that he has gathered them
like sheaves to the threshing floor.
13 Rise and thresh,(AB) Daughter Zion,
for I will make your horns iron
and your hooves bronze
so you can crush many peoples.(AC)
Then you[c] will set apart their plunder(AD)
for the Lord,
their wealth for the Lord of the whole earth.
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