Bible Gateway passage: Micah 5, Micah 2 - New King James Version (2024)

The Messiah Will Be Born at Bethlehem

5Now gather yourself in troops,
O daughter of troops;
He has laid siege against us;
They will ^(A)strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.

The Coming Messiah

²“But you, ^(B)Bethlehem ^(C)Ephrathah,
Though you are little ^(D)among the ^(E)thousands of Judah,
Yet out of you shall come forth to Me
The One to be ^(F)Ruler in Israel,
^(G)Whose goings forth are from of old,
From ^[a]everlasting.”

³Therefore He shall give them up,
Until the time that ^(H)she who is in labor has given birth;
Then ^(I)the remnant of His brethren
Shall return to the children of Israel.
⁴And He shall stand and ^(J)feed^[b] His flock
In the strength of the Lord,
In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God;
And they shall abide,
For now He ^(K)shall be great
To the ends of the earth;
⁵And this One ^(L)shall be peace.

Judgment on Israel’s Enemies

When the Assyrian comes into our land,
And when he treads in our palaces,
Then we will raise against him
Seven shepherds and eight princely men.
⁶They shall ^[c]waste with the sword the land of Assyria,
And the land of ^(M)Nimrod at its entrances;
Thus He shall ^(N)deliver us from the Assyrian,
When he comes into our land
And when he treads within our borders.

⁷Then ^(O)the remnant of Jacob
Shall be in the midst of many peoples,
^(P)Like dew from the Lord,
Like showers on the grass,
That ^[d]tarry for no man
Nor ^[e]wait for the sons of men.
⁸And the remnant of Jacob
Shall be among the Gentiles,
In the midst of many peoples,
Like a ^(Q)lion among the beasts of the forest,
Like a young lion among flocks of sheep,
Who, if he passes through,
Both treads down and tears in pieces,
And none can deliver.
⁹Your hand shall be lifted against your adversaries,
And all your enemies shall be ^[f]cut off.

¹⁰“And it shall be in that day,” says the Lord,
“That I will ^(R)cut^[g] off your ^(S)horses from your midst
And destroy your ^(T)chariots.
¹¹I will cut off the cities of your land
And throw down all your strongholds.
¹²I will cut off sorceries from your hand,
And you shall have no ^(U)soothsayers.
^13(V)Your carved images I will also cut off,
And your sacred pillars from your midst;
You shall ^(W)no more worship the work of your hands;
¹⁴I will pluck your ^[h]wooden images from your midst;
Thus I will destroy your cities.
¹⁵And I will ^(X)execute vengeance in anger and fury
On the nations that have not ^[i]heard.”

Woe to Evildoers

2Woe to those who devise iniquity,
And ^[a]work out evil on their beds!
At ^(A)morning light they practice it,
Because it is in the power of their hand.
²They ^(B)covet fields and take them by violence,
Also houses, and seize them.
So they oppress a man and his house,
A man and his inheritance.

³Therefore thus says the Lord:

“Behold, against this ^(C)family I am devising ^(D)disaster,
From which you cannot remove your necks;
Nor shall you walk haughtily,
For this is an evil time.
⁴In that day one shall take up a proverb against you,
And ^(E)lament with a bitter lamentation, saying:
‘We are utterly destroyed!
He has changed the ^[b]heritage of my people;
How He has removed it from me!
To ^[c]a turncoat He has divided our fields.’ ”

⁵Therefore you will have no ^[d]one to determine boundaries by lot
In the assembly of the Lord.

Lying Prophets

⁶“Do not prattle,” you say to those who ^[e]prophesy.
So they shall not prophesy ^[f]to you;
^[g]They shall not return insult for insult.
⁷You who are named the house of Jacob:
“Is the Spirit of the Lord restricted?
Are these His doings?
Do not My words do good
To him who walks uprightly?

⁸“Lately My people have risen up as an enemy—
You pull off the robe with the garment
From those who trust you, as they pass by,
Like men returned from war.
⁹The women of My people you cast out
From their pleasant houses;
From their children
You have taken away My glory forever.

¹⁰“Arise and depart,
For this is not your ^(F)rest;
Because it is ^(G)defiled, it shall destroy,
Yes, with utter destruction.
¹¹If a man should walk in a false spirit
And speak a lie, saying,
‘I will ^[h]prophesy to you ^[i]of wine and drink,’
Even he would be the ^(H)prattler of this people.

Israel Restored

¹²“I^(I) will surely assemble all of you, O Jacob,
I will surely gather the remnant of Israel;
I will put them together ^(J)like sheep of ^[j]the fold,
Like a flock in the midst of their pasture;
^(K)They shall make a loud noise because of so many people.
¹³The one who breaks open will come up before them;
They will break out,
Pass through the gate,
And go out by it;
^(L)Their king will pass before them,
^(M)With the Lord at their head.”