Micah 4:8-5:4

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

⁸ And you, O tower of the flock,
    hill of the daughter of Zion,
to you shall it come,
    the former dominion shall come,
    the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.

⁹ Now why do you cry aloud?
    Is there no king in you?
Has your counselor perished,
    that pangs have seized you like a woman in travail?
¹⁰ Writhe and groan,^[a] O daughter of Zion,
    like a woman in travail;
for now you shall go forth from the city
    and dwell in the open country;
    you shall go to Babylon.
There you shall be rescued,
    there the Lord will redeem you
    from the hand of your enemies.

¹¹ Now many nations
    are assembled against you,
saying, “Let her be profaned,
    and let our eyes gaze upon Zion.”
¹² But they do not know
    the thoughts of the Lord,
they do not understand his plan,
    that he has gathered them as sheaves to the threshing floor.
¹³ Arise and thresh,
    O daughter of Zion,
for I will make your horn iron
    and your hoofs bronze;
you shall beat in pieces many peoples,
    and shall^[b] devote their gain to the Lord,
    their wealth to the Lord of the whole earth.

5 ^[c] Now you are walled about with a wall;^[d]
    siege is laid against us;
with a rod they strike upon the cheek
    the ruler of Israel.