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About this book

Micah

About this book

The Ideal Age

Chapter 4

1 And in future days the Lord’s Temple Mount will be the most important mountain of all; it will be more prominent than other hills. People will stream to it.⁠ 2 Many nations will come, saying, “Come on! Let’s go up to the Lord’s mountain, to the temple of Jacob’s God, so he can teach us his ways and we can live by his laws.”⁠ For instruction will proceed from Zion, the Lord’s message from Jerusalem. 3 He will arbitrate between many peoples and settle disputes between many distant nations. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not use weapons against other nations, and they will no longer train for war.⁠ 4 Each will sit under his own grapevine or under his own fig tree without any fear.⁠ The Lord of Heaven’s Armies has decreed it.

5 Though all the nations follow their respective gods, we will follow the Lord our God forever.⁠ 6 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will gather the lame and assemble the outcasts whom I injured.⁠ 7 I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation and those far off into a mighty nation. The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion, from that day forward and forevermore.⁠

8 As for you, watchtower for the flock, fortress of Daughter Zion—your former dominion will be restored, the sovereignty that belongs to Daughter Jerusalem.”⁠

The Lord Will Rescue the Exiles

9 Jerusalem, why are you now shouting so loudly? Has your king disappeared? Has your wise leader been destroyed? Is this why pain grips you as if you were a woman in labor?⁠ 10 Twist and strain, Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor! For you will leave the city and live in the open field. You will go to Babylon, but there you will be rescued. There the Lord will deliver you from the power of your enemies.

Israel Will Crush Its Enemies

11 Many nations have now assembled against you. They say, “Jerusalem must be desecrated, so we can gloat over Zion!” 12 But they do not know what the Lord is planning; they do not understand his strategy. He has gathered them like stalks of grain to be threshed at the threshing floor. 13 “Get up and thresh, Daughter Zion! For I will give you iron horns; I will give you bronze hooves, and you will crush many nations.” You will devote to the Lord the spoils you take from them and dedicate their wealth to the sovereign Ruler of the whole earth.⁠

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Texts in conversation

Compare Micah 4:8 and Jonathan Micah 4:8

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

In the Hebrew version of Micah, Zion’s watchtower receives restored rule. In the Aramaic translation in Targum Jonathan, the hidden Messiah receives it, interpreting Jerusalem’s restoration as renewed messianic kingship.

Passages

Micah 4:8

Hebrew Bible
6 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will gather the lame and assemble the outcasts whom I injured.7 I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation and those far off into a mighty nation. The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion, from that day forward and forevermore.8 As for you, watchtower for the flock, fortress of Daughter Zion—your former dominion will be restored, the sovereignty that belongs to Daughter Jerusalem.”9 Jerusalem, why are you now shouting so loudly? Has your king disappeared? Has your wise leader been destroyed? Is this why pain grips you as if you were a woman in labor?10 Twist and strain, Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor! For you will leave the city and live in the open field. You will go to Babylon, but there you will be rescued. There the Lord will deliver you from the power of your enemies.
740–401 BCE Read in Micah

Jonathan Micah 4:8

Targum · Targum Jonathan to the Prophets
6 At that time, says the Lord God, I will gather those driven into exile, and bring together those scattered, and those treated harshly because of My people’s sins.7 I will make the displaced into a surviving remnant, and the scattered into a strong people. The Lord’s kingdom will be revealed over them on Mount Zion, from this time and forever.8 And you, Messiah of Israel, hidden because of the sins of Zion’s congregation, the kingdom is destined to come to you. The former rule will return to the kingdom of Jerusalem’s congregation.9 Why do you join yourself to the nations? Is there no king among you? Have your royal advisers perished? For distress and trembling have seized you like a woman’s labor pains.10 Tremble and shake, congregation of Zion, like a woman giving birth. For you will leave the city and camp in the fields, going as far as Babylon. There you will be rescued. There the Lord will redeem you from your enemies’ power.
400–500 CE Read in Jonathan Micah

References

“... The kingdom and the Messiah are associated in Micah Targum 4:7-8. But they are associated more closely than in the earlier Targumim, and the Messiah is described as hidden because of Zion’s sins, and as having a name from of old: all of those are probably Amoraic developments.56 ...”
Paul V. M. Flesher and Bruce D. Chilton, The Targums: A Critical Introduction, SAIS 12 (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2011), 224.
“... There is no extant evidence that Micah 5:1 was alluded to or quoted in ancient Judaism.72 Yet we observed above that Targum Micah 5:1 attached Messianic import to the quotation.73 When considering the import of this Messianic refer- ence, Targum Micah 4:8 should also be considered, since it is the other place in Targum Micah that the term jyCm is inserted. Notice that the Targum is an expansion of the MT (see Table 2 on next page): While it is not possible to consider in detail the ways in which the Targum has expanded on the MT, it is important to observe that the Targumist has a discernable “nationalism”74 in his emphasis on atwklm (“kingdom”) and anflwC (“dominion”). At the advent of the Messiah, according to the Targumist, the physical Empire of David will be restored.75 Thus, in at least some quarters of Judaism in the late first and second centuries, people read the context of Micah 5:1 nationalistically and the text gave voice to a very political, eschatological expectation.76 ...”
Joel Willitts, Matthew’s Messianic Shepherd-King: In Search of "the Lost Sheep of the House of Israel" (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2007), 111.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Micah 4:8 and Jonathan Micah 4:8

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