Micah has accused the leaders (rulers, priests and prophets) of Jerusalem of corruption. They oppress the poor and make decisions based on bribes. The nation will be judged. But ... a time is coming....
In the last days
the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established
as chief among the mountains;
it will be raised above the hills,
and peoples will stream to it.
Many nations will come and say,
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob.
He will teach us his ways,
so that we may walk in his paths."
The law will go out from Zion,
the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
He will judge between many peoples
and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide.
They will beat their swords into plowshares
and their spears into pruning hooks.
Nation will not take up sword against nation,
nor will they train for war anymore.
Every man will sit under his own vine
and under his own fig tree,
and no one will make them afraid,
for the LORD Almighty has spoken.
A plowshare Hebrew eth, is a metal implement used for tilling the soil. (Waltke translates that word as "hoe".)
Micah 4:5, Walk in the name of YHWH
All the nations may walk in the name of their gods;
we will walk in the name of the LORD
our God for ever and ever.
In this future day, although other nations might follow their own gods, Israel will be the home of YHWH.
This passage continues to have some agreement with the first five verses of Isaiah 2. This verse has similarities to Isaiah 2:5. Waltke, p. 676, describes the textual differences between Isaiah 2:2-5 and Micah 4:1-5.
"In that day," declares the LORD,
"I will gather the lame;
I will assemble the exiles
and those I have brought to grief.
I will make the lame a remnant,
those driven away a strong nation.
The LORD will rule over them in Mount Zion
from that day and forever.
In that future day, the weak and lame and all who grieve, will form a remnant. YHWH will rule from Jerusalem forever. The Hebrew of the first two parallel lines is a chiasmus,
"I will assemble
the lame andthe outcast
I will gather."
As for you, O watchtower of the flock,
O stronghold of the Daughter of Zion,
the former dominion will be restored to you;
kingship will come to the Daughter of Jerusalem."
Micah 4:9-10, No king?
Why do you now cry aloud--
have you no king?
Has your counselor perished,
that pain seizes you like that of a woman in labor?
Writhe in agony, O Daughter of Zion,
like a woman in labor,
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.
After the hopeful future that describes the first eight verses of this chapter, Micah returns to the status of his time, a time in which Israel will lose its kings and the people of Jerusalem will be taken to Babylon. It is there that they will be rescued.
The synthetic tricolon "leave the city... camp in the open field... go to Babylon... " builds to a climactic bicolon, "there you will be rescued; there YHWH will redeem you..."
Babylon in the eighth century, may just represent any eastern enemy. In the time of Micah, it is Neo-Assyrian Empire that has arisen in the east. Babylon was a city within that empire.
There is poetic wordplay in carrying chil, pangs (of labor), at the end of verse 9 with chuwl, writhe (in agony), at the beginning of verse 10.
But now many nations are gathered against you.
They say, "Let her be defiled,
let our eyes gloat over Zion!"
But they do not know the thoughts of the LORD;
they do not understand his plan,
he who gathers them like sheaves
to the threshing floor.
Many nations want to gloat over Judah and Jerusalem. But YHWH has a longterm plan.
"Rise and thresh, O Daughter of Zion,
for I will give you horns of iron;
I will give you hoofs 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.
First published July 16, 2025; updated July 16, 2025
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