Micah 4:9-6:12

English Standard Version

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.
⁵And he shall be ^(Z)their peace.

^(AA)When the Assyrian comes into our land
    and treads in our palaces,
then we will raise against him seven ^(AB)shepherds
    and eight princes of men;
⁶they shall shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
    and the land of ^(AC)Nimrod at its entrances;
and he shall deliver us from the Assyrian
    ^(AD)when he comes into our land
    and treads within our border.

A Remnant Shall Be Delivered

⁷Then ^(AE)the remnant of Jacob shall be
    in the midst of many peoples
like dew from the Lord,
    like showers on the grass,
which delay not for a man
    nor wait for the children of man.
⁸And ^(AF)the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations,
    in the midst of many peoples,
like a lion among the beasts of the forest,
    like a young lion among the flocks of sheep,
^(AG)which, when it goes through, treads down
    and tears in pieces, and there is none to deliver.
⁹Your hand shall ^(AH)be lifted up over your adversaries,
    and all your enemies shall be cut off.

¹⁰And ^(AI)in that day, declares the Lord,
    ^(AJ)I will cut off your horses from among you
    and will destroy your chariots;
¹¹^(AK)and I will cut off the cities of your land
    and throw down all your strongholds;
¹²and I will cut off ^(AL)sorceries from your hand,
    and ^(AM)you shall have no more tellers of fortunes;
¹³and ^(AN)I will cut off your carved images
    and ^(AO)your pillars from among you,
^(AP)and you shall bow down no more
    to the work of your hands;
¹⁴and I will root out your ^(AQ)Asherah images from among you
    ^(AR)and destroy your cities.
¹⁵And in anger and wrath ^(AS)I will execute vengeance
    on the nations that did not obey.

The Indictment of the Lord

6 ^(AT)Hear what the Lord says:
Arise, plead your case before the mountains,
    and let the hills hear your voice.
²^(AU)Hear, you mountains, ^(AV)the indictment of the Lord,
    and you enduring foundations of the earth,
for the Lord has an indictment against his people,
    and he will contend with Israel.

³“O my people, ^(AW)what have I done to you?
    ^(AX)How have I wearied you? Answer me!
⁴For ^(AY)I brought you up from the land of Egypt
    and ^(AZ)redeemed you from the house of slavery,
and I sent before you Moses,
    Aaron, and ^(BA)Miriam.
⁵O my people, remember ^(BB)what Balak king of Moab devised,
    and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from ^(BC)Shittim to Gilgal,
    that you may know ^(BD)the righteous acts of the Lord.”

What Does the Lord Require?

⁶^(BE)“With what shall I come before the Lord,
    and bow myself before ^(BF)God on high?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
    with calves a year old?
⁷^(BG)Will the Lord be pleased with^[f] thousands of rams,
    with ten thousands of rivers of oil?
^(BH)Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression,
    the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?”
⁸He has told you, O man, what is good;
    and ^(BI)what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,^[g]
    and to ^(BJ)walk humbly with your God?

Destruction of the Wicked

⁹The voice of the Lord cries to the city—
    and it is sound wisdom to fear ^(BK)your name:
“Hear of ^(BL)the rod and of him who appointed it!^[h]
¹⁰    Can I forget any longer the treasures^[i] of wickedness in the house of the wicked,
    and the scant measure that is accursed?
¹¹Shall I acquit the man ^(BM)with wicked scales
    and with a bag of deceitful weights?
¹²Your^[j] rich men are ^(BN)full of violence;
    your inhabitants ^(BO)speak lies,
    and ^(BP)their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.