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Torah Will Go Forth From Zion

But at the end of days
the mountain of Adonai’s House will be established as chief of the mountains,
and will be raised above the hills.
Peoples will flow up to it.
Then many nations will go and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of Adonai,
    to the House of the God of Jacob!
Then He will direct us in His ways,
    and we will walk in His paths.”
For Torah will go forth from Zion,
and the word of Adonai from Jerusalem.
He will judge between many peoples
and decide for mighty nations far off.
They will beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning shears.
Nation will not lift up sword against nation,
    nor will they learn war again.
But each man will sit under his vine
    and under his fig tree,
    with no one causing terror,
for the mouth of Adonai-Tzva’ot has spoken.
Though all the peoples will walk
each in the name of his god,
so we ourselves will walk[a] in the Name of Adonai Eloheinu,
    forever and ever.

“In that day”
—it is a declaration of Adonai
“I will gather her who is limping,
and her who was banished will I collect,
even those whom I have afflicted.
I will make her who was limping into a remnant,
    and her who was banished a mighty nation.
Adonai will reign over them on Mount Zion
    from that time and forever.”

But you, watchtower of the flock,
are the hill of the Daughter of Zion.
To you she will come.
Even the former dominion will come,
the kingdom of the Daughter of Jerusalem.
Why are you crying out aloud now?
Is there no King within you?
Has your counselor perished,
    so that agony has gripped you like birth pangs?
10 Writhe and give birth, Daughter of Zion,
    like a woman in labor.
For now you will go forth from a city.
You will dwell in the field,
and you will come as far as Babylon.
There you will be rescued.
There will Adonai redeem you
    from the hand of your enemies.
11 But now many nations
have assembled against you,
those who are saying, “Let her be defiled,
and let our eyes gaze on Zion.”
12 But they do not know Adonai’s thoughts,
    nor understand His plan.
For He has gathered them
    like grain to a threshing floor.
13 Arise and tread, Daughter of Zion,
for I will make your horn iron,
and I will make your hooves bronze.
You will thresh many peoples.
I will devote their unjust gain to Adonai,
their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.
14 Now gather yourself in troops,[b] O Daughter of Troops.
He has laid siege against us.
With a staff they have struck
    the Judge of Israel on the cheek.

Eternal Ruler from Bethlehem

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah[c]
least among the clans of Judah—
from you will come out to Me
    One to be ruler in Israel,
One whose goings forth are from of old,
    from days of eternity.
Therefore He will give them up
until the time when she who is in labor has given birth.
Then the remnant of His brothers
    will return to Bnei-Yisrael.
So He will arise and tend His flock
with the strength of Adonai
    in the majesty of the Name of Adonai His God.
And they will live securely,
    for then He will be great to the ends of the earth.
This One will be shalom.[d]
When Assyria invades our land
    when he treads on our citadels,
then we will raise up against him seven shepherds
    and eight human princes.
They will devastate the land of Assyria with the sword—
even Nimrod’s land with a drawn blade.[e]
He will deliver us from Assyria,
    when he invades our land,
    when he tramples on our territory.

The Remnant of Jacob

Now the remnant of Jacob will be
    in the midst of many peoples,
like dew from Adonai,
like abundant showers on grass
    that does not wait for a man,
    nor lingers for the sons of men.
For the remnant of Jacob will be among the nations,
    in the midst of many peoples,
like a lion among the forest beasts,
like a young lion among flocks of sheep,
who, if he passed through, would trample and tear to pieces,
    and there would be no deliverer.
May your hand be raised up against your adversaries,
and may all your foes be cut off.
“Now in that day”
—it is a declaration of Adonai
“I will cut off your horses among you,
and I will destroy your chariots.
10 I will cut off the cities of your land,
and throw down all your strongholds.
11 I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
and you will have no more diviners.
12 I will cut off your carved images
and your sacred pillars from among you,
so you will no longer bow down
    to the work of your hands.
13 I will uproot your Asherah poles from among you,
and destroy your cities.
14 So I will execute vengeance in anger
and wrath on the nations that have not listened.

Footnotes

  1. Micah 4:5 cf. Acts 14:16.
  2. Micah 4:14 Traditional Christian text numbers as 5:1-15
  3. Micah 5:1 cf. Matt. 2:6.
  4. Micah 5:4 cf. Luke 2:14; Col. 1:20.
  5. Micah 5:5 Or, at its entrances.