Micah 5

FROM DEFEATED RULER TO CONQUERING KING
Now, daughter who is under attack,
you slash yourself in grief;
a siege is set against us!
They are striking the judge of Israel
on the cheek with a rod.
2 Bethlehem Ephrathah,
you are small among the clans of Judah;
one will come from you
to be ruler over Israel for me.
His origin is from antiquity,
from ancient times.
3 Therefore, Israel will be abandoned until the time
when she who is in labor has given birth;
then the rest of the ruler’s brothers will return
to the people of Israel.
4 He will stand and shepherd them
in the strength of the Lord,
in the majestic name of the Lord his God.
They will live securely,
for then his greatness will extend
to the ends of the earth.
5 He will be their peace.
When Assyria invades our land,
when it marches against our fortresses,
we will raise against it seven shepherds,
even eight leaders of men.
6 They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword,
the land of Nimrod with a drawn blade.
So he will rescue us from Assyria
when it invades our land,
when it marches against our territory.

THE GLORIOUS AND PURIFIED REMNANT
7 Then the remnant of Jacob
will be among many peoples
like dew from the Lord,
like showers on the grass,
which do not wait for anyone
or linger for mankind.
8 Then the remnant of Jacob
will be among the nations, among many peoples,
like a lion among animals of the forest,
like a young lion among flocks of sheep,
which tramples and tears as it passes through,
and there is no one to rescue them.
9 Your hand will be lifted up against your adversaries,
and all your enemies will be destroyed.
10 In that day —
this is the Lord’s declaration —
I will remove your horses from you
and wreck your chariots.
11 I will remove the cities of your land
and tear down all your fortresses.
12 I will remove sorceries from your hands,
and you will not have any more fortune-tellers.
13 I will remove your carved images
and sacred pillars from you
so that you will no longer worship
the work of your hands.
14 I will pull up the Asherah poles from among you
and demolish your cities.
15 I will take vengeance in anger and wrath
against the nations that have not obeyed me.

Micah 6

GOD’S LAWSUIT AGAINST JUDAH
Now listen to what the Lord is saying:
Rise, plead your case before the mountains,
and let the hills hear your complaint.
2 Listen to the Lord’s lawsuit,
you mountains and enduring foundations of the earth,
because the Lord has a case against his people,
and he will argue it against Israel.
3 My people, what have I done to you,
or how have I wearied you?
Testify against me!
4 Indeed, I brought you up from the land of Egypt
and redeemed you from that place of slavery.
I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam ahead of you.
5 My people,
remember what King Balak of Moab proposed,
what Balaam son of Beor answered him,
and what happened from the Acacia Grove to Gilgal
so that you may acknowledge
the Lord’s righteous acts.
6 What should I bring before the Lord
when I come to bow before God on high?
Should I come before him with burnt offerings,
with year-old calves?
7 Would the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams
or with ten thousand streams of oil?
Should I give my firstborn for my transgression,
the offspring of my body for my own sin?
8 Mankind, he has told each of you what is good
and what it is the Lord requires of you:
to act justly,
to love faithfulness,
and to walk humbly with your God.

VERDICT OF JUDGMENT
9 The voice of the Lord calls out to the city
(and it is wise to fear your name):
“Pay attention to the rod
and the one who ordained it.
10 Are there still the treasures of wickedness
and the accursed short measure
in the house of the wicked?
11 Can I excuse wicked scales
or bags of deceptive weights?
12 For the wealthy of the city are full of violence,
and its residents speak lies;
the tongues in their mouths are deceitful.
13 “As a result, I have begun to strike you severely,
bringing desolation because of your sins.
14 You will eat but not be satisfied,
for there will be hunger within you.
What you acquire, you cannot save,
and what you do save,
I will give to the sword.
15 You will sow but not reap;
you will press olives
but not anoint yourself with oil;
and you will tread grapes
but not drink the wine.
16 The statutes of Omri
and all the practices of Ahab’s house
have been observed;
you have followed their policies.
Therefore, I will make you a desolate place
and the city’s residents an object of contempt;
you will bear the scorn of my people.”

Micah 7

ISRAEL’S MORAL DECLINE
How sad for me!
For I am like one who —
when the summer fruit has been gathered
after the gleaning of the grape harvest —
finds no grape cluster to eat,
no early fig, which I crave.
2 Faithful people have vanished from the land;
there is no one upright among the people.
All of them wait in ambush to shed blood;
they hunt each other with a net.
3 Both hands are good at accomplishing evil:
the official and the judge demand a bribe;
when the powerful man communicates his evil desire,
they plot it together.
4 The best of them is like a brier;
the most upright is worse than a hedge of thorns.
The day of your watchmen,
the day of your punishment, is coming;
at this time their panic is here.
5 Do not rely on a friend;
don’t trust in a close companion.
Seal your mouth
from the woman who lies in your arms.
6 Surely a son considers his father a fool,
a daughter opposes her mother,
and a daughter-in-law is against her mother-in-law;
a man’s enemies are the men of his own household.
7 But I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation.
My God will hear me.

ZION’S VINDICATION
8 Do not rejoice over me, my enemy!
Though I have fallen, I will stand up;
though I sit in darkness,
the Lord will be my light.
9 Because I have sinned against him,
I must endure the Lord’s fury
until he champions my cause
and establishes justice for me.
He will bring me into the light;
I will see his salvation.
10 Then my enemy will see,
and she will be covered with shame,
the one who said to me,
“Where is the Lord your God? ”
My eyes will look at her in triumph;
at that time she will be trampled
like mud in the streets.
11 A day will come for rebuilding your walls;
on that day your boundary will be extended.
12 On that day people will come to you
from Assyria and the cities of Egypt,
even from Egypt to the Euphrates River
and from sea to sea
and mountain to mountain.
13 Then the earth will become a wasteland
because of its inhabitants
and as a result of their actions.

MICAH’S PRAYER ANSWERED
14 Shepherd your people with your staff,
the flock that is your possession.
They live alone in a woodland
surrounded by pastures.
Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead
as in ancient times.
15 I will perform miracles for them
as in the days of your exodus
from the land of Egypt.
16 Nations will see and be ashamed
of all their power.
They will put their hands over their mouths,
and their ears will become deaf.
17 They will lick the dust like a snake;
they will come trembling out of their hiding places
like reptiles slithering on the ground.
They will tremble in the presence of the Lord our God;
they will stand in awe of you.
18 Who is a God like you,
forgiving iniquity and passing over rebellion
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not hold on to his anger forever
because he delights in faithful love.
19 He will again have compassion on us;
he will vanquish our iniquities.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.
20 You will show loyalty to Jacob
and faithful love to Abraham,
as you swore to our ancestors
from days long ago.

— Micah 5-7 (CSB)