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A peaceable world

But in the days to come,
        the mountain of the Lord’s house
            will be the highest of the mountains;
        it will be lifted above the hills;
            peoples will stream to it.
Many nations will go and say:
    “Come, let’s go up to the mountain of the Lord,
            to the house of Jacob’s God,
        so that he may teach us his ways
            and we may walk in God’s paths!”
Instruction will come from Zion
        and the Lord’s word from Jerusalem.
God will judge between the nations
        and settle disputes of mighty nations,
            which are far away.
They will beat their swords into iron plows
        and their spears into pruning tools.
Nation will not take up sword against nation;
        they will no longer learn how to make war.
All will sit underneath their own grapevines,
        under their own fig trees.
    There will be no one to terrify them;
        for the mouth of the Lord of heavenly forces has spoken.

An assertion of enduring loyalty

Each of the peoples walks in the name of their own god;
        but as for us, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God
            forever and always.

Dominion in Zion

On that day, says the Lord,
        I will gather the lame;
        I will assemble those who were driven away
            and those whom I have harmed.
I will make the lame into survivors,
        those driven away into a mighty nation.
    The Lord will rule over them on Mount Zion
        from now on and forever.
As for you, Tower of Eder,[a] hill of Daughter Zion,
    as for you it will come,
        the former dominion will come,
        the royal power belonging to Daughter Zion.

God is in control

Now why do you cry out so loudly?
    Isn’t the king in you?
    Or has your counselor perished,
        so that pain has seized you like that of a woman in labor?
10 Writhe and scream, Daughter Zion, like a woman in labor!
        Now you will leave the city and dwell in the open field;
            you will go to Babylon.
        There you will be rescued;
            there the Lord will redeem you from the power of your enemies.
11 Now many nations may gather against you;
        they say, “Let her be defiled,”
        or “Let our eyes look with desire at Zion.”
12 But they don’t know the plans of the Lord;
            they can’t understand his scheme,
        namely, that he will bring them like grain to the threshing floor!
13 Arise and thresh, Daughter Zion,
        for I will make your horn out of iron;
        your hooves I will make out of bronze.
    You will crush many peoples;
        you will dedicate their ill-gotten gains to the Lord,
        their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.

Call to arms; the future is secure

[b] Now muster your troops, Daughter Troop![c]
        They have laid siege against us;
        with a rod they will strike the cheek of the judge of Israel.
As for you, Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
    though you are the least significant of Judah’s forces,
        one who is to be a ruler in Israel on my behalf will come out from you.
    His origin is from remote times, from ancient days.
Therefore, he will give them up
        until the time when she who is in labor gives birth.
        The rest of his kin will return to the people of Israel.
He will stand and shepherd his flock[d] in the strength of the Lord,
        in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.
        They will dwell secure,
        because he will surely become great throughout the earth;
        he will become one of peace.[e]
When Assyria invades our land and treads down our fortresses,
        then we will raise up against him seven shepherds and eight human princes.
They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
        the land of Nimrod with the drawn sword.
    He will rescue us from Assyria
        when he invades our land
            and treads within our territory.
Then the few remaining in Jacob will be amid many peoples
        like dew from the Lord,
        like spring showers upon the grass,
            which does not hope for humans or wait for human ones.
Then the few remaining in Jacob will be among the nations,
            amid many peoples,
        like a lion among the creatures of the forest,
        like a young lion among flocks
            of sheep, which when it passes by, tramples and tears to pieces
                with no one to deliver.
Your hand will be lifted over your foes;
        all your enemies will be cut off.

Doom for Israel’s enemies

10 On that day—says the Lord
        I will cut down your horses in your midst;
        I will destroy your chariots!
11 I will cut down the cities of your land;
        I will tear down your defenses!
12 I will demolish the sorceries you perform;
        you will have no more diviners!
13 I will cut down your images
        and your sacred pillars in your midst.
        You will no longer bow down to the works of your hands!
14 I will tear down your sacred poles[f] in your midst;
        I will destroy your cities!
15 I will exact vengeance in anger
        and in wrath on the nations that don’t obey!

Footnotes

  1. Micah 4:8 Or tower of the flock
  2. Micah 5:1 4:14 in Heb
  3. Micah 5:1 Heb uncertain
  4. Micah 5:4 Heb lacks his flock.
  5. Micah 5:5 Or this will ensure peace.
  6. Micah 5:14 Heb asherim

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