Micah 4:8-5:5
New International Version - UK
8 As for you, watchtower of the flock,
stronghold[a] of Daughter Zion,
the former dominion will be restored to you;
kingship will come to Daughter Jerusalem.’
9 Why do you now cry aloud –
have you no king?[b]
Has your ruler[c] perished,
that pain seizes you like that of a woman in labour?
10 Writhe in agony, Daughter Zion,
like a woman in labour,
for now you must leave the city
to camp in the open field.
You will go to Babylon;
there you will be rescued.
There the Lord will redeem you
out of the hand of your enemies.
11 But now many nations
are gathered against you.
They say, ‘Let her be defiled,
let our eyes gloat over Zion!’
12 But they do not know
the thoughts of the Lord;
they do not understand his plan,
that he has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing-floor.
13 ‘Rise and thresh, 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.’
You will devote their ill-gotten gains to the Lord,
their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.
A promised ruler from Bethlehem
5 [d]Marshal your troops now, city of troops,
for a siege is laid against us.
They will strike Israel’s ruler
on the cheek with a rod.
2 ‘But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans[e] of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.’
3 Therefore Israel will be abandoned
until the time when she who is in labour bears a son,
and the rest of his brothers return
to join the Israelites.
4 He will stand and shepherd his flock
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
will reach to the ends of the earth.
5 And he will be our peace
when the Assyrians invade our land
and march through our fortresses.
We will raise against them seven shepherds,
even eight commanders,
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