Micah 4:8-5:4

English Standard Version

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

⁹Now why do you cry aloud?
    ^(A)Is there no king in you?
^(B)Has your counselor perished,
    that ^(C)pain seized you like a woman in labor?
¹⁰^(D)Writhe and groan,^[a] O daughter of Zion,
    like a woman in labor,
for ^(E)now you shall go out from the city
    and dwell in the open country;
    you ^(F)shall go to Babylon.
There you shall be rescued;
    ^(G)there the Lord will redeem you
    from the hand of your enemies.

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

The Ruler to Be Born in Bethlehem

5 ^[c] Now muster your troops, O daughter^[d] of troops;
    siege is laid against us;
with a rod ^(O)they strike the judge of Israel
    on the cheek.
²^[e] ^(P)But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah,
    who are too little to be among the clans of ^(Q)Judah,
from you shall come forth for me
    one who is to be ^(R)ruler in Israel,
^(S)whose coming forth is ^(T)from of old,
    from ancient days.
³Therefore he shall give them up ^(U)until the time
    when she who is in labor has given birth;
then ^(V)the rest of his brothers shall return
    to the people of Israel.
⁴And he shall stand ^(W)and shepherd his flock ^(X)in the strength of the Lord,
    in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
And they shall dwell secure, for now ^(Y)he shall be great
    to the ends of the earth.