Micah 5-6
King James Version
5 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 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth: then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
4 And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.
5 And this man shall be the 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 principal men.
6 And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he 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 people as a dew from the Lord, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.
8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.
9 Thine 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 the Lord, 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 throw down all thy strong holds:
12 And I will cut off witchcrafts out of thine hand; and thou shalt have no more soothsayers:
13 Thy graven images also will I cut off, and thy standing images out of the midst of thee; and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands.
14 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thy cities.
15 And I will execute vengeance in anger and fury upon the heathen, such as they have not heard.
6 Hear ye now what the Lord saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
2 Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord's controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel.
3 O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me.
4 For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab consulted, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal; that ye may know the righteousness of the Lord.
6 Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?
8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?
9 The Lord's voice crieth unto the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it.
10 Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?
11 Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?
12 For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13 Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.
14 Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.
15 Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine.
16 For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.
Micah 5-6
1599 Geneva Bible
5 1 The destruction of Jerusalem. 2 The excellency of Bethlehem.
1 Now assemble thy garrisons, O daughter [a]of garrisons: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
2 And thou Bethlehem Ephrathah art [b]little to be among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me, that shall be the ruler in Israel: whose [c]goings forth have been from the beginning and from everlasting.
3 Therefore will he give them up, until the time that [d]she which shall bear, shall travail: then the remnant of their brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.
4 And he shall [e]stand, and feed in the strength of the Lord, and in the majesty of the Name of the Lord his God, and they shall dwell still: for now shall he be magnified unto the ends of the world.
5 And he [f]shall be our peace when Assyria shall come into our land: when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.
6 And they shall destroy [g]Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod with their swords: thus shall he [h]deliver us from Assyria, when he cometh into our land, and when he shall tread within our borders.
7 And the [i]remnant of Jacob shall be among many people, as a dew from the Lord, and as the showers upon the grass, that waiteth not for man, nor hopeth in the sons of Adam.
8 And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people, as the Lion among the beasts of the forest, and as the Lion whelp among the flocks of sheep, who when he goeth through, treadeth down and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.
9 Thine 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 the Lord, that I will cut off thine [j]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 thine enchanters out of thine hand: and thou shalt have no more soothsayers.
13 Thine idols also will I cut off, and thine images out of the midst of thee: and thou shalt no more worship the work of thine hands.
14 And I will pluck up thy groves out of the midst of thee: so will I destroy thine enemies.
15 And I will execute a vengeance in my wrath and indignation upon the heathen, [k]which they have not heard.
6 An exhortation to the dumb creatures to hear the judgment against Israel being unkind. 6 What manner of sacrifices do please God.
1 Hearken ye now what the Lord saith, Arise thou, and contend before the [l]mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice.
2 Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord’s quarrel, and ye mighty foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a quarrel against his people, and he will plead with Israel.
3 O my people, what have I done unto thee? or wherein have I grieved thee? testify against me.
4 Surely I [m]brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants, and I have sent before thee, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.
5 O my people, remember now what Balak king of Moab had devised, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him, from [n]Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the [o]righteousness of the Lord.
6 Wherewith [p]shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, and with calves of a year old?
7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousand rivers of oil? shall I give my [q]firstborn for my transgression, even the fruit of my body, for the sin of my soul?
8 He hath showed thee, O man, what is good, and what the Lord requireth of thee: [r]surely to do justly, and to love mercy, and to humble thyself, to walk with thy God.
9 The Lord’s voice crieth unto the [s]city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: Hear the rod, and who hath appointed it.
10 Are yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure, that is abominable?
11 Shall I justify the wicked balances, and the bag of deceitful weights?
12 For the rich men thereof [t]are full of cruelty, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.
13 Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, and in making thee desolate, because of thy sins.
14 Thou shalt eat and not be satisfied, and [u]thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee, and thou [v]shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver, and that which thou deliverest, will I give up to the sword.
15 Thou shalt sow, but not reap: Thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil, and make sweet wine, but shall not drink wine.
16 For the [w]statutes of Omri are kept, and all the manner of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels, that I should make thee waste, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.
Footnotes
- Micah 5:1 He forewarneth them of the dangers that shall come before they enjoy these comforts, showing that forasmuch as Jerusalem was accustomed with her garrisons to trouble others, the Lord would now cause other garrisons to vex her, and that her rulers should be smitten on the face most contemptuously.
- Micah 5:2 For so the Jews divided their country that for every thousand there was a chief captain: and because Bethlehem was not able to make a thousand, he calleth it little, but yet God will raise up his captain and governor therein: and thus it is not the least by reason of this benefit, as Matt. 2:6.
- Micah 5:2 He showeth that the coming of Christ and all his ways were appointed of God from all eternity.
- Micah 5:3 He compareth the Jews to women with child, who for a time should have great sorrows, but at length they should have a comfortable deliverance, John 16:21.
- Micah 5:4 That is, Christ’s kingdom shall be stable and everlasting, and his people as well the Gentiles as the Jews shall dwell in safety.
- Micah 5:5 This Messiah shall be a sufficient safeguard for us, and though the enemy invade us for a time, yet shall God stir up many which shall be able to deliver us.
- Micah 5:6 These whom God shall raise up for the deliverance of his Church, shall destroy all the enemies thereof, which are meant here by the Assyrians and Babylonians which were the chief at that time.
- Micah 5:6 By these governors will God deliver us when the enemy cometh into our land.
- Micah 5:7 This remnant or Church which God shall deliver shall only depend on God’s power and defense, as doth the grass of the field, and not on the hope of man.
- Micah 5:10 I will destroy all things wherein thou puttest thy confidence, as thy vain confidence and idolatry, and so will help thee.
- Micah 5:15 It shall be so terrible that the like hath not been heard of.
- Micah 6:1 He took the high mountains and hard rocks to witness against the obstinacy of his people.
- Micah 6:4 I have not hurt thee, but bestowed infinite benefits upon thee.
- Micah 6:5 That is, remember my benefits from the beginning how I delivered you from Balaam’s curse, and also spared you from Shittim, which was in the plain of Moab, till I brought you into the land promised.
- Micah 6:5 That is, the truth of his promise and his manifold benefits toward you.
- Micah 6:6 Thus the people by hypocrisy ask how to please God and are content to offer sacrifices, but will not change their lives.
- Micah 6:7 There is nothing so dear to man, but the hypocrites will offer it unto God, if they think thereby to avoid his anger: but they will never be brought to mortify their own affections, and to give themselves willingly to serve God as he commandeth.
- Micah 6:8 The Prophet in few words calleth them to the observation of the second Table, to know if they will obey God aright or no, saying that God hath prescribed them to do this.
- Micah 6:9 Meaning, that when God speaketh to any city or nation, the godly will acknowledge his majesty and consider not the mortal man that bringeth the threatening, but God that sendeth it.
- Micah 6:12 That is, of Jerusalem.
- Micah 6:14 Thou shalt be consumed with inward grief and evils.
- Micah 6:14 Meaning, that the city should go about to save her men, as they that lay hold on that which they would preserve.
- Micah 6:16 You have received all the corruption and idolatry, wherewith the ten tribes were infected under Omri and Ahab his son: and to excuse your doings, you allege the King’s authority by his statutes, and also wisdom and policy in so doing, but you shall not escape punishment: but as I have shown you great favor, and taken you for my people, so shall your plagues be accordingly, Luke 12:47.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
