1 Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops; he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek. 2 (And thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, little to be among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall he come forth unto me [who is] to be Ruler in Israel: whose goings forth are from of old, from the days of eternity.) 3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time when she which travaileth shall have brought forth: and the residue of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel. 4 And he shall stand and feed [his flock] in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God. And they shall abide; for now shall he be great even unto the ends of the earth. 5 And this [man] shall be Peace. When the Assyrian shall come into our land, and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight princes of men. 6 And they shall waste the land of Asshur with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof; and he shall deliver [us] from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders. 7 And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples as dew from Jehovah, as showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, neither waiteth for the sons of men. 8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and there is none to deliver. 9 Thy hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off. 10 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith Jehovah, that I will cut off thy horses out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy chariots. 11 And I will cut off the cities of thy land, and overthrow all thy strongholds. 12 And I will cut off sorceries out of thy hand; and thou shalt have no soothsayers. 13 Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy statues out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more bow down to the work of thy hands. 14 And I will pluck up thine Asherahs out of the midst of thee, and I will destroy thy cities. 15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and in fury upon the nations, such as they have not heard of.
Micah 5 Darby Translation
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
Places
Bethlehem
Bethlehem was the home of Ruth and Boaz and the birthplace of David. Micah named it as the Messiah's birthplace — fulfilled in Jesus' nativity.
Cited in the guide: Micah 5:2; Ruth 1:19; Luke 2:4-7
Cross references (15)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Lamentations 3:30; Job 16:10; Matthew 26:67; John 19:3; Isaiah 33:22
- 2 Matthew 2:6; John 7:42; Luke 1:31–33; Isaiah 9:6–7; Psalm 90:2
- 3 Revelation 12:1–2; Micah 4:7; Romans 9:27–28; Matthew 1:21; Isaiah 10:20–21
- 4 Isaiah 40:10–11; Psalm 23:1–2; Luke 1:32; Micah 7:14; John 10:27–30
- 5 Luke 2:14; John 14:27; Zechariah 10:3; Isaiah 9:6–7; Job 5:19
- 6 Genesis 10:8–11; Isaiah 14:25; Luke 1:74; Isaiah 14:2; 2 Chronicles 33:11
- 7 Psalm 72:6; Micah 5:3; Isaiah 44:3; Deuteronomy 32:2; Hosea 14:5
- 8 Zechariah 10:5; Micah 4:13; Psalm 2:8–12; Isaiah 41:15–16; Zechariah 12:3
- 9 Isaiah 26:11; Psalm 21:8; Isaiah 11:14; Isaiah 14:2–4; Psalm 10:12
- 10 Zechariah 9:10; Hosea 14:3; Psalm 33:16–17; Psalm 20:7–8; Isaiah 2:7
- 11 Isaiah 2:12–17; Zechariah 4:6; Isaiah 6:11; Ezekiel 38:11; Amos 5:9
- 12 Deuteronomy 18:10–12; Revelation 22:15; Isaiah 8:19–20; Isaiah 2:20; Revelation 19:20
- 13 Ezekiel 6:9; Ezekiel 36:25; Zechariah 13:2; Ezekiel 37:23; Hosea 14:3
- 14 Exodus 34:13
- 15 Micah 5:8; 2 Thessalonians 1:8; Psalm 149:7; Isaiah 65:12
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
He spoke thus: "And thou, Bethlehem, the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah; for out of thee shall come forth a Governor, who shall feed My people." Now there is a village in the land of the Jews, thirty-five stadia from Jerusalem, in which Jesus Christ was born, as you can ascertain also from …
And He shall stand, and see, and feed His flock in the strength of the Lord, and in the dignity of the name of the Lord His God: for now shall He be magnified even to the utmost of the earth." The prophet Jonah, not so much by speech as by his own painful experience, prophesied Christ's death and resurrection …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
And the place likewise, and the time, he puts down, to bring to our remembrance ancient prophecies; whereof one was uttered by Micah, saying, "And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art by no means the least among the princes of Judah;" and the other by the patriarch Jacob, distinctly marking out to us the time, and setting forth …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
Out of thee shall come forth unto Me a Ruler, who shall feed My people Israel: and His goings forth are from the beginning, from days of eternity.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
For surely "his goings forth" were not "from of old, from everlasting." And how can that suit him which is said at the beginning, "Out of thee shall He come forth:" Zorobabel not having been born in Judæa, but in Babylon, whence also he was called Zorobabel, because he had his origin there?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)