Translation & Sermon by
Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 15 Sept.
2024
Omitting greyed-out portions should bring spoken delivery
down to 45 minutes.
After three chapters detailing the sins of the people of Israel and Judah and warning of God’s coming judgment against them, Micah takes a surprising turn in chapter 4 by prophesying of future peace and blessings through the redemptive ministry of the coming Christ!
“[T]he Prophet in his time, seing in the earthlye Ierusalem religion neglected, iudgment peruerted, and iustice banished, did caste vp the eies of his spirite into that great and highe hyl, wherof Ihon speaketh in the .xxi. of his reuelacion…” ~Anthony Gilby, 1551 AD
That’s a good example for us when we are feeling depressed about all the evil in the world around us. “...seek the things above, where the Christ is sitting on the right hand of God.” (Col. 3:1, NAW)
However, one of the first things to deal with as we look at the beginning of Micah 4 is the fact that the first few verses are exactly the same as the first few verses of Isaiah chapter 2. So the question arises, “Who is copying who? Did Isaiah copy Micah, or did Micah copy Isaiah?”
Commentators1 have spilled vast amounts of ink over this question, but I believe it is the wrong question when built upon the presupposition that the Bible is merely the words of men and therefore to be traced either Micah or Isaiah or some other human editor.
But there is another explanation if we take the Bible at face value. 2 Timothy 3:16 affirms that “all scripture is inspired by God.” Therefore, when we see two Biblical authors living at the same time saying the same words, it points to the same God inspiring both of them, giving us two witnesses to the same divine message.
And if God went to that extra trouble, it must be an important message. It must be something God really wants us to hear and really wants us to believe! So let’s listen to it and open our hearts to believe it!
{Read my translation of} Micah 4:1-7: Then it will happen in the latter days that the mountain of the house of Yahweh shall be established at the head of the mountains, and it will be lifted up above the hills, and peoples will stream over it. Indeed, many nations will come and say, “Come and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, even to the house of the God of Jacob, so He may teach us from His ways and we may walk in His paths.” For out of Zion the law will go forth, even the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem. And He will judge between many peoples, and He will bring justice to bear toward mighty nations far away; and they shall blacksmith their swords into tillers, and their spears into pruning-tools; nation will not raise a sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore. And each will reside under his grape-vine and under his fig-tree, and there will be no cause for trembling, because the mouth of Yahweh Commander of armies has spoken. Whereas each and every one of the peoples conduct themselves in the name of their god, as for us, we will conduct ourselves in the name of Yahweh our God for ever and ever. During that time, declares Yahweh, I will gather-in the one who is limping, and I will bring the outcast into the assembly – even the one to whom I had brought something terrible, and I will position the one who is limping to be the one that remains and the one who was far off to become a strong nation, and Yahweh will reign over them at Mt. Zion from now even to forever!
So, what is the setting of Micah’s prophecy at the beginning of chapter 4? He says “it will happen in the last days.” When is that?
This phrase “last days” occurs throughout the Bible, so we can use the other instances to orient us as to when the fulfillment of this prophecy will take place:
Genesis 49:1 is the first instance of this exact phrase, where Jacob tells his 12 sons what will happen “in the last days” to each one of them. Those fulfillments happened in the course of Old Testament history.
Baalam is the next prophet to use the phrase in Numbers 24:14, telling King Balak how the Israelites would overthrow the Moabite civilization “in the last days.” That was fulfilled under Joshua.
Next are the two prophecies of Moses at the beginning and the end of Deuteronomy (4:30 and 31:29), where he says that the [Babylonian] exile will be “in the last days.”
Isaiah (2:2), Micah (4:1), Hosea (3:5), Jeremiah (23:20), Ezekiel (38:8), and Daniel (10:14) all lived during “last days” prophesied by Moses, yet they all looked well beyond the Babylonian exile to a still later time when God’s people would stop worshiping idols and enjoy peace and salvation under the LORD’s reign, when, as Jeremiah put it, “In the latter days you will understand it perfectly.”
Jeremiah (48:47, 49:39, and esp. 30:24) speaks of captives coming back “in the latter days” – which could fit with Reconstruction of Jerusalem under Ezra and Nehemiah, but in chapters 30-31, it becomes evident that the return from Babylonian exile is, in Jeremiah’s mind, just a prelude to the coming of the Messiah where the shadows of justice and peace will become a reality.2
That’s practically every instance of this phrase “last days” in the Hebrew Old Testament – although there are others, such as Joel 2:28 which have different wording but mean the same thing3. The New Testament is written in Greek, so we have to switch to the Greek translation of that Hebrew phrase to search the New Testament, and there there we find the Apostles declaring that they were living in the last days!
Acts 2:15-17 At Pentecost, Peter says, “For these are not drunk, as you suppose… But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last’ days4, says God, ‘That I will pour out of My Spirit on all flesh...’” (NKJV) The Apostle Peter clearly thought that he was in the “latter days” described by the Old Testament prophets.
So did the writer of Hebrews: Hebrews 1:1-2 “God... has spoken to us at the last of these days by means of the Son…” (NAW)
And so did James: James 5:1-3 “...you rich men... stockpiled [gold and silver] during the last days.” (NAW) Note the past tense; James knew that his contemporaries were already living “in the last days.”
But not only did the New Testament Apostles consider themselves to be in the last days, they also spoke of the last days as being in the future to them:
2 Peter 3:3 “...during the last days, mockers will come...” (NAW) Future tense.
2 Timothy 3:1 “...in the last days perilous times will come...” (NKJV) There are still more “last days” yet to come, and they will be perilous – as indeed the persecution of the early church was and the persecution of the modern church still is!
So far we’ve only surveyed the plural “last days,” in the Bible, but Jesus also mentioned a singular “last day” when the dead will be raised – either to judgment (John 12:48) or to glory: “...everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.5” (John 6:40, NKJV)
From this survey, I conclude that in Biblical use, this phrase “in the last days” refers in a smaller sense to the latter days of ungodly civilizations before God in His judgment has them wiped out, and in a larger sense to the age between the first and second comings of Christ, the prelude to the ultimate last day where all evil ends6.
I believe that Micah is using this phrase in the larger sense to refer to the age in which we and the Apostles live now, because of what he says will happen during this time. Micah 4:1 tells us that in these “last days” two things will happen:
there will be a lifting up of the mountain of the house of Yahweh,
and there will be an influx of people who want to come to it.
First, concerning the exaltation of the mountain of the house of God:
Notice that this is a reversal of the judgment threatened in the previous verse. In the last verse of chapter 3, Micah prophesied that the temple would be razed to the ground and that the city of God would became wilderness. Now, “in the last days,” it will be established and raised up and filled with people again! A complete reversal!
This image of a high “mountain” – higher than all other mountains – is part of other prophetic writings in the Bible about heaven in the future:
In the apocalyptic section of Ezekiel, chapter 40, he talks of being taken up to a “high mountain” above all the other mountains, where he sees the new Jerusalem and the new temple and scenes of heaven.
In Revelation 21, the vision that God gives to the apostle John also is seen from the top of a “very high mountain.”
This mountain is a figure7 of the exaltation of God above everything else on this earth. There is nothing that is ever going to compare with the greatness and glory of God. His mountain – the things of God – are far higher than anything else!
I don’t believe that this is literal language; I believe that this is figurative language, describing the ascendency and recognized importance of the kingdom of God in terms of a “mountain,” like Daniel’s vision also did:
Daniel 2:35 & 44 “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed together, and became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found. And the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth… 44 And in the days of these kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed... it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.”
Hills and high places were where pagans set up temples to worship idols, but this mountain where the one true God is worshiped supersedes all other religions and will be recognized as far superior by “many/great nations” and “peoples.”
Isaiah’s parallel passage adds that it will be “ALL peoples.” In Micah the word “all” doesn’t appear until v.5, where the “all” who worship some god or another are contrasted with the “us” who “walk in the name of [the one true God,] the LORD.” We who walk in the name of the Lord are part of those “many [gentile] peoples” in “the house of the LORD!”
Jeremiah 3:17 & 23 "At that time Jerusalem shall be called The Throne of the LORD, and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the dictates of their evil hearts…. Truly, in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, And from the multitude of mountains; Truly, in the LORD our God Is the salvation of Israel.” (NKJV, cf. Isa. 49:6)
The end of v.1 says that “many nations” are going to “flow” to this mountain. God’s purpose is to save some from every tongue, tribe, and nation (Matt. 28:19, Rev. 5:9, 7:9), to bring His blessing to all the families and nations on the earth (Gen. 12:3), and this is a fulfillment of God’s purpose. This is the fulfillment where people are streaming to the mountain of God in order to hear His word8.
This verb for “flow/stream” is only found here and in Jeremiah, who confirmed what Micah is saying:
Jeremiah 51:44 “I will punish Bel in Babylon... And the nations shall not stream to him anymore. Yes, the wall of Babylon shall fall.”
Jeremiah 31:10-12 “...He who scattered Israel will gather him, And keep him as a shepherd does his flock.' For the LORD has redeemed Jacob, And ransomed him from the hand of one stronger than he. Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, Streaming to the goodness of the LORD-- For wheat and new wine and oil, For the young of the flock and the herd; Their souls shall be like a well-watered garden, And they shall sorrow no more at all.”
Jesus said in Matthew 8:11 “I tell you that many from East and West will come and be pulled up to the table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” (NAW)
Notice that these people coming from all over the world to worship God:
Are sincere: John Calvin commented, “[I]f we only nod with our ears, as asses are wont to do, and [merely] assent to what God says... it is extremely vain and absurd... [M]en really only profit under the teaching of God, when they form their life according to his doctrine, and... follow whithersoever He may call them. ‘We will then walk in his paths.’’”
And not only are they sincere in worship, they are also encouraging one another to worship in community: “[T]hey say not, ‘Go, ascend to the mount of Jehovah;’ but, ‘Let us go together’ … each one offers himself as a companion in the journey… [T]his ardor is what is justly required in the faithful... to animate and stir on one another [Heb. 10:24]…” (Calvin)
Also note that there is no mention of sacrifices and offerings in this time of worship; there is only “teaching… the word...” I don’t want to make too much of this, but this is consistent with New Testament church worship services9. How about you: Is your worship of God marked by genuine sincerity and encouraging one another in community?
The “house of the God of Jacob” on the “mountain of the Lord” is speaking of the place where the one true God is worshiped.
In Micah’s day, there was one unique place where the proper worship of Yahweh could be found, and that was on the hill in Jerusalem – in the temple Solomon built, so if you wanted to worship God in the fullest way, you had to go to that specific place to worship Him.
Psalm 22:27 “All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to Yahweh, and all the families of the nations will bow down before Your face,” (NAW) Psalm 86:9 “All nations whom You have made Shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And shall glorify Your name.” (NKJV)
Zechariah 2:11 “Many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and they shall become My people. And I will dwell in your midst. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you.” 8:20-21 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘Peoples shall yet come, Inhabitants of many cities; The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, "Let us continue to go and pray before the LORD, And seek the LORD of hosts. I myself will go also."’” 14:16 “And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.” (NKJV)
But the uniqueness of that hill in Jerusalem no longer exists. God’s special presence is no longer there. Where is it now? In heaven, where Jesus “sits at the right hand of God the Father.” I believe that the fulfillment of this prophecy in our time is the success of world missions, as peoples from all over the world hear the good news about Jesus Christ and begin worshiping Him10.
Malachi 1:11 “For from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; In every place [no longer just in Jerusalem, but in every place] incense shall be offered to My name, And a pure offering; For My name shall be great among the nations,” Says the LORD of hosts. (NKJV)
This sounds just like what Jesus said about His crucifixion: John 12:32 “As for me, when I get lifted up from the earth, I will draw all to myself.” (NAW)
And we see the same thing in Revelation 15:4 “Who shall not fear You, O Lord, and glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. For all nations shall come and worship before You, For Your judgments have been manifested.” (NKJV)
Notice that this is Mt. Zion. Hebrews 12 also describes this mountain: Hebrews 12:18-24 “Moreover, y'all have not come to a [mountain] that is tangible and ignited with fire and to cloud-cover and darkness and tornado-wind, and to a trumpet blast... Rather, y'all have come to the mountain of Zion and to the city of the Living God – to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in a festival, and to a church of firstborns who have been registered in heaven, and to a Judge [who is] God of all, and to the spirits of righteous persons who have been made perfect, and to the mediator of a new covenant, Jesus, and to the blood of sprinkling which utters a better thing than Abel.” (NAW)
Mt. Zion is where God’s mercy is delivered through Jesus. This is the great mountain.
We can debate about
whether this is in the future for a literal millennium in the physical city of Jerusalem,
or whether this is in our present age for a figuratively long period of time in which Christ reigns from heaven before the end of the world,
or perhaps whether this is speaking of life in the new heaven and new earth after the end of this world.
But we can agree on what is clear here:
that people from many nations will come to worship the Lord,
that Jesus is the Lord – the word of God,
and that He will be revealed in the future as The Lawgiver and Judge (James 4:12).
The reason the nations are coming to this mountain, says Micah, is to learn from the LORD, to learn from His ways and to walk in His paths because He alone has the word of God.
The nations come because they recognize that it is from God that the law comes – it’s from Zion – His holy hill that law comes. And it’s from this Jerusalem – which I believe is ultimately the heavenly Jerusalem, or heaven – that the word of the Lord comes.
Psalm 25:8 “Goodness and righteousness characterize Yahweh, therefore He instructs sinners in His way.” (NAW)
Matthew Henry made a good case, however, for not abandoning the meaning of the earthly Jerusalem, commenting on this verse: “The gospel is here called the ‘word of the Lord,’ ... it began to be spoken by the Lord Christ himself (Heb. 2:3). And it is a law, a law of faith... This was to go forth from Jerusalem, from Zion, the metropolis of the Old Testament dispensation, where the temple, and altars, and oracles were, and whither the Jews went to worship from all parts; thence the gospel must take rise, to show the connexion between the Old Testament and the New, that the gospel is not set up in opposition to the law, but is an explication and illustration of it, and a ‘branch growing out of its roots.’ It was in Jerusalem that Christ preached and wrought miracles; there he died, rose again, and ascended; there the Spirit was poured out; and those that were to ‘preach repentance and remission of sins to all nations’ were ordered to ‘begin at Jerusalem...’”
Are you eager to worship Jesus? Are you excited to hear what His word says? Do you come to church because you actually want to learn something from Him?
We get our marching orders, not from any place in this world, but from heaven. We should not look to other people to see what they think right and wrong is. We should look to God. It is from God’s word, the Bible, that we should derive ethics, and from ethics, law.
Just this past week, my wife tried to share the gospel with a guy, and do you know what his response was? He said something like, “I just think that when we die, we cease to exist, so I don’t need to worry about all that.” I thought to myself, “How can any man ever have enough knowledge or expertise about the afterlife to form such an opinion with any confidence? Why in the world would anyone reject the words that the creator of life and death has to say on the subject??” And yet we can be ridiculously uninterested in what God has to say. I hope you will not make that mistake!
When we stream to the Lord to hear His word and learn His ways, we will experience peace and blessing. He isn’t a merciless tyrant who lives “high on the hog” off our taxes, making our lives miserable with too many rules. Quite the opposite; He needs nothing from us, and His rules are the only way to live in freedom and justice and happiness.
Not only is the Lord the worship center (in v.1) and the educational center (in v.2), He will also be the justice center (in v.3).
Our Lord exercises spiritual power in our souls, but Micah tells us that God’s anointed is going to exercise extensive political power as well, “in the last days.”
Now, we may have been able to spiritualize this prophecy up to this point and see figurative fulfillment of it in people groups believing in Jesus and coming into the kingdom of God, but verses 3-4 can’t be describing anything we’ve ever seen yet. This has to be speaking of a literal, physical reign of Jesus, either on this earth in the future, or in the world to come.
According to Micah, “In the Messianic age, the nations of the world will submit their disputes to the arbitrament of God, not of war.” (David Kimchi, 1200’s AD)
This is real power – ultimate divine power in the hands of the Son of God to judge and correct the nations of the earth and actually stop all wars!
Sure we have the United Nations, and they make rulings and decisions, but they have never been able to stop the wars that rage throughout the earth. They don’t possess the power or the perfect justice to do so, but Jesus does.
He Himself said, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth” (Matt. 28:18). There is no nation too powerful for Him to bring to its knees before Him.
He will bring justice, not just on the little nations in the Middle East – between which nobody has ever been able to make peace, but also the “great” and “mighty” nations of America and China and Russia “far away”!
(That phrase “far away” could also mean far off in time.11) Jesus will have the final say on justice everywhere and always!
Zechariah 8:22 “Yes, many peoples and strong nations Shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem, And to pray before the LORD.” (NKJV, cf. Isa. 53:12)
Psalm 96:13 “...He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth...” Psalm 110:1 & 6 “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, Till I make Your enemies Your footstool...’ He shall judge among the nations, He shall fill the places with dead bodies, He shall execute the heads of many countries.” (NKJV)
Isaiah 11:3-4 “And He will delight in the fear of Yahweh. He will judge, but not according to the sight of His eyes, He will reprove, but not according to the hearing of His ears But He will judge the poor with righteousness, and He will reprove with equity for the lowly of the earth; and He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will kill the wicked… Isaiah 42:1 “Look, my servant; I hold with Him, My chosen one, delight of my soul; I set my Spirit upon Him; He will cause justice to go out to the nations.” (NAW)
Matthew 25:31-32 “So, whenever the Son of Man shall come in His glory and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit upon His throne of glory and all the nations will be gathered before Him, and He separates them from one another, just like a shepherd separates his sheep from his goats,” (NAW)
Acts 17:31 “because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” (NKJV)
Rev. 19:11 “Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.” (NKJV)
Does that have the proper effect of awe upon you?
Does it put into perspective for you the foolishness of fearing the evil human rulers of our world today?
This is an echo of the covenant blessings God promised in Leviticus 27:3-6 “If it is in my statutes that y'all walk and if it is my commands that y'all keep – and y'all act on them, then I will give your rains in time for them, and the land will give its yield, and the tree of the field will give its fruit, and threshing will last for y'all until grape-harvest and grape-harvest will last until seeding, and y'all will eat your bread to satisfaction, and y'all will reside confidently in your land. I will also extend peace within the land, and y'all will lie down and there will be no cause for trembling…” (NAW)
Peace, Biblically speaking, is not the absence of resistance to the ruling class; it is the individual citizens having nothing to fear.
So, “sitting/residing under your own grapevine and... fig tree” was a symbol of peace and prosperity for Israel12.
In the New Testament it was just assumed that everybody had access to grapes and figs (Luke 13:6, James 3:12), and the removal of/from grapes and figs was a symbol of God’s judgment in Numbers (20:5), Psalm 105(:33), Isaiah (34:4), Jeremiah (5:17, 8:13), Hosea (2:12), Joel (1:7-12), Amos (4:9), Haggai (2:19), and Habakkuk (3:17).
Now, certainly the Gospel of Jesus Christ is the “gospel of peace” (Eph. 6:15) and those who follow Him now exhibit peace as a fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22, cf. Tit. 3:2-3, James 3:18, etc.), but here in Micah, the scope is not just Israel being at peace, but the whole world. God will take control. He’s going to be the judge, and His laws are going to rule the world, and so there’s going to be peace between the nations – no more war13:
No more need for police stations or army bases! No more deployments; no more graveyard shifts.
No more need for training in the disciplines of war. West Point will go out of business!
And there will be no need to lock your doors either. Everybody is content to sit “under his own vine and... tree” and eat their own land’s produce and not covet anybody else’s stuff!
And there will be no more need for weapons anymore – they’ll turn their swords into hoes, and they’ll turn their spears [or today we might say “guns”] into garden-loppers! Our worst enemy will be... low-hanging tree branches! We won’t need weapons any more because there won’t be any fighting anymore because there’s going to be perfect peace as God reigns over His people.
In a sense, it’s a return to the garden of Eden, where we “walk” with God every day and live in peace and take care of the garden He gives us. (And, I might add, that in heaven, there will be work to do – symbolized by plows and pruners, but it won’t be tiresome and burdensome like it is now.)
I believe that can only be in the new Jerusalem – in heaven!14
The prophets have rung out this stupendous promise for millennia:
Psalm 46:9 “He will shatter the bow and mow down the spear. The transport-vehicle He will burn in the fire, causing wars to cease unto the end of the earth.” (NAW) Glory!
Isaiah 60:18 “Never again will there be heard violence in your land, devastation, or destruction in your borders, but you will call your walls Salvation and your gates Praise…. Isaiah 65:25 The wolf and the lamb will pasture as one, and the lion will eat straw like the ox, and as for the serpent dust for his food. They will not cause evil or cause corruption in all the mountain of my holiness,” says Yahweh. (NAW)
Hosea 2:18 “.... Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth, To make them lie down safely.” (NKJV, cf. Jer. 30:10)
Zechariah 3:10 In that day, says the LORD of hosts, “Everyone will invite his neighbor Under his vine and under his fig tree15... 9:10 “I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim And the horse from Jerusalem; The battle bow shall be cut off. He shall speak peace to the nations; His dominion shall be `from sea to sea, And from the River to the ends of the earth.” (NKJV)
Now, is this just another idealistic pipe-dream foisted on us by totalitarian dictators who want to lull us to sleep and take away our guns and keep perpetuating their endless wars to gain more power? No, this is in a completely different category because, “The mouth of Yahweh [the Lord of Hosts] the Commander of the armies of heaven Himself has decreed it.”
This is the God who spoke a single sentence that forced the sun and every star to burst into existence. Whatever He decrees will happen.
We can be more sure of this promise than we are of death or taxes, because, one day those are going to go away, but not this covenant. God WILL recreate the earth so that only “righteousness dwells” in it (2 Pet. 3:13), and that means, when it comes, you who have found Christ’s righteousness will experience trouble-free peace and satisfying prosperity under King Jesus that will beat Martin Luther King’s “dream” and Donald Trump’s “MAGA16” all-hollow!
Do you long for Jesus’ kingdom to come? Does this help you with your perspective as you live right now in a fallen, corrupt world? Have you become a follower of King Jesus to learn His ways and walk in His paths? If not, will you join us in doing so? If so, what a glorious future awaits us in the heavenly kingdom of Christ! “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20)
DouayB (Vulgate) |
LXXC |
BrentonD (Vaticanus) |
KJVE |
NAW |
MICAH4 MTF |
ISAIAH2 |
1 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be prepared in the top of the mountains, and high above the hills: and people shall flow to it. |
1 Καὶ ἔσται ἐπ᾿ ἐσχάτωνG τῶν ἡμερῶν ἐμφανὲς τὸ ὄρος X X τοῦ κυρίου, ἕτοιμον ἐπὶ τὰς κορυφὰς τῶν ὀρέων, καὶ μετεωρισθήσεται ὑπεράνω τῶν βουνῶν· καὶ σπεύσουσιν πρὸς αὐτὸ λαοί, |
1 And at the last days the mountain of the X X Lord shall be manifest, established on the tops of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and the peoples shall hasten to it. |
1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. |
1 Then it will happen in the latter days that the mountain of the house of Yahweh shall be established at the head of the mountains, and it will be lifted up above the hills, and peoples will stream over it. |
(א) Hוְהָיָה בְּאַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים יִהְיֶה הַר בֵּית יְהוָה נָכוֹן בְּרֹאשׁI הֶהָרִים וְנִשָּׂא הוּא מִגְּבָעוֹת וְנָהֲרוּJ עָלָיו עַמִּים. |
(ב) וְהָיָה בְּאַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים נָכוֹן יִהְיֶה הַר בֵּית יְהוָה X בְּרֹאשׁ הֶהָרִים וְנִשָּׂא X מִגְּבָעוֹת וְנָהֲרוּ אֵלָיו כָּלK הַגּוֹיִם. |
2 And many nations shall come in haste, and say: Come, X let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob: and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth out of Sion, and the word of the Lord out of Jerusalem. |
2
καὶ πορεύσονται ἔθνη πολλὰ καὶ
ἐροῦσιν Δεῦτε X ἀναβῶμεν εἰς τὸ
ὄρος κυρίου καὶ εἰς τὸν οἶκον τοῦ
θεοῦ Ιακωβ, καὶ δείξουσιν ἡμῖν
τ |
2
And many nations shall go, and say, Come, X
let us go up to the mountain
of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and they shall
|
2 And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. |
2 Indeed, many nations will come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of Yahweh, even to the house of the God of Jacob, so He may teach us from His ways and we may walk in His paths.” For out of Zion the law will go forth, even the word of Yahweh from Jerusalem. |
(ב) Lוְהָלְכוּ גּוֹיִם רַבִּיםM וְאָמְרוּ לְכוּ וְנַעֲלֶהN אֶל הַר יְהוָה וְאֶל בֵּית אֱלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב וְיוֹרֵנוּ מִדְּרָכָיו וְנֵלְכָה בְּאֹרְחֹתָיו כִּי מִצִּיּוֹן תֵּצֵא תוֹרָה וּדְבַר יְהוָה מִירוּשָׁלָ͏ִם. |
(ג) וְהָלְכוּ עַמִּים רַבִּים וְאָמְרוּ לְכוּ וְנַעֲלֶה אֶל הַר יְהוָה Xאֶל בֵּית אֱלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב וְיֹרֵנוּ מִדְּרָכָיו וְנֵלְכָה בְּאֹרְחֹתָיו כִּי מִצִּיּוֹן תֵּצֵא תוֹרָה וּדְבַר יְהוָה מִירוּשָׁלָ͏ִם. |
3
And he shall judge among many peopleX,
and rebuke
X strong
nations afar off: and they shall beat their swords into
ploughshares,
and their spears into |
3
καὶ κρινεῖ ἀνὰ μέσονO
λαῶν πολλῶν
καὶ ἐξελέγξει
ἔθν |
3 And he shall judge among many peoples, and shall rebuke X strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into sickles; [and] nation shall no more lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn to war any more. |
3 And he shall judge among many peopleX, and rebuke X strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. |
3 And He will judge between many peoples, and He will bring justice to bear toward mighty nations far away; and they shall blacksmith their swords into tillers, and their spears into pruning-tools; nation will not raise a sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore. |
(ג) Wוְשָׁפַט בֵּין עַמִּים רַבִּיםX וְהוֹכִיחַ לְגוֹיִם עֲצֻמִים עַד Yרָחוֹק וְכִתְּתוּ חַרְבֹתֵיהֶם לְאִתִּים וַחֲנִיתֹתֵיהֶם לְמַזְמֵרוֹת לֹא יִשְׂאוּ גּוֹי אֶל גּוֹי חֶרֶב וְלֹא יִלְמְדוּןZ עוֹד מִלְחָמָה. |
(ד)
וְשָׁפַט
בֵּין הַגּוֹיִם
וְהוֹכִיחַ
לְעַמִּים רַבִּים |
Douay (Vulgate) |
LXX |
Brenton (Vaticanus) |
KJV |
NAW |
MICAH4 MT |
|
4 And every man shall sit under his vine, and under his fig tree, and there shall be none to make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken. |
4 καὶ ἀναπαύσεται ἕκαστοςAA ὑποκάτω ἀμπέλου αὐτοῦ καὶ [ἕκαστοςAB] ὑποκάτω συκῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ὁ ἐκφοβῶν, διότι τὸ στόμα κυρίουAC παντοκράτορος ἐλάλησεν ταῦτα. |
4 And every one shall rest under his vine, and [every one] under his fig-tree; and there shall be none to alarm them: for the mouth of the Lord Almighty has spoken these words. |
4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it. |
4 And each will reside under his grape-vine and under his fig-tree, and there will be no cause for trembling, because the mouth of Yahweh Commander of armies has spoken. |
(ד) וְיָשְׁבוּAD אִישׁ תַּחַת גַּפְנוֹ וְתַחַת תְּאֵנָתוֹ וְאֵין מַחֲרִידAE כִּי פִי יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת דִּבֵּר. |
|
5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god: but we X will walk in the name of the Lord, our God, for ever and ever. |
5
ὅτι
πάντες
οἱ λαοὶ πορεύσονται
ἕκαστος τὴν |
5
For
all [other]
nations shall walk everyone in his own X
|
5 For all people will walk every one in the name of his god, and we X will walk in the name of the LORD our God for ever and ever. |
5 Whereas each and every one of the peoples conduct themselves in the name of their god, as for us, we will conduct ourselves in the name of Yahweh our God for ever and ever. |
(ה) כִּיAG כָּל הָעַמִּים יֵלְכוּ אִישׁ בְּשֵׁם אֱלֹהָיו וַאֲנַחְנוּ נֵלֵךְ בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶדAH. |
|
6 In that day, saith the Lord, I will gather up her that halteth: and her that [I] had X cast out, I will gather up: and her whom I had afflicted. |
6
ἐν τῇ ἡμέρᾳ ἐκείνῃ, λέγει
κύριος, συνάξω τὴν
|
6
In that day, saith the Lord, I will gather her that is |
6 In that day, saith the LORD, will I assemble her that halteth, and I will gather her that is driven out, and her that I have afflicted; |
6 During that time, declares Yahweh, I will gather-in the one who is limping, and I will bring the outcast into the assembly – even the one to whom I had brought something terrible, |
(ו) בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא נְאֻם יְהוָה אֹסְפָהAJ הַצֹּלֵעָהAK וְהַנִּדָּחָהAL אֲקַבֵּצָה וַאֲשֶׁר הֲרֵעֹתִי. |
|
7
And I will |
7
καὶ θήσομαι τὴν
|
7
And I will |
7
And I will |
7 and I will position the one who is limping to be the one that remains and the one who was far off to become a strong nation, and Yahweh will reign over them at Mt. Zion from now even to forever! |
(ז) וְשַׂמְתִּי אֶת הַצֹּלֵעָה לִשְׁאֵרִיתAM וְהַנַּהֲלָאָהAN לְגוֹי עָצוּםAO וּמָלַךְ יְהוָה עֲלֵיהֶם בְּהַר צִיּוֹןAP מֵעַתָּה וְעַד עוֹלָם. |
|
1Owen quoted Newcome, who in turn cited Lowth with the tentative opinion that Micah copied Isaiah based on Isa. 2:1 “The word which Isaiah son of Amoz saw...” but that seems hardly conclusive. Keil commented, “The originality of the passage in Micah is open to no question,” citing Delitzsch’s Commentary on Isaiah. and Caspari's Micha, pp. 444-5. B. Waltke cited C. Nagelsbach, J.T. Willis, and E. Nielsen in support of Micah being the original, but supported G. von Rad in claiming it was copied from Isaiah. He also cited Hitzig, Ewald, R. Vuillemuier, L. Allen, A.S. Kapelrod, and H. Wildberger in favor of both Isaiah and Micah copying from an anonymous earlier prophet and ably refuted the claims of B. Renaud and G. Wanke that a postexilic editor inserted this into Isaiah and Micah’s books.
2We also see that phenomenon of the Reconstruction blending into the Messianic age in the latter chapters of Isaiah.
3Ezekiel 38:16 is another significant one, the fulfillment of which is debated, but is perhaps future to our modern time.
4Peter adds the phrase “days says God” as reflected in the single quotes I have added to Joel 2:28. The next word “that” is added by the NKJV translator, not a separate word in the original Greek (although it is in the original Hebrew).
5cf. multiple instances in vs. 39-54 and Martha’s statement of faith in that “last day” of resurrection in 11:24.
6Commentators
on “last days”
Ibn Ezra (1060 AD): “Not the end of
time,” but “during the Messianic era” (quoted by Cohen)
Kimchi
(1220) “Whenever the latter days are mentioned in Scripture, the
days of the Messiah are always meant.” (quoted by Owen who was
quoting Lowth) So also Abarbanel (1500).
Anthony Gilby
(1551): “[T]hese tymes of Christe maye worthelye bee called the
laste tymes and as Paule calleth it to the Galathians and Ephesyans
the fulnesse of tyme, wherein all thinges were fulfilled. The laste
tymes also may they be called, because they are mooste neare to the
commynge of christ vnto iudgement, whiche shalbe the laste daye of
al flesh…” Gilby added that the “last days” would include
the time when the Jews come to faith in Jesus as per Romans 11.
J.
Calvin (1559): “The extremity of days the Prophet no doubt
calls the coming of Christ… this prophecy has been fulfilled…
the calling of the Gentiles and consequently our salvation is
included in this prophecy. (1 Cor. 10:11)”
M. Henry
(1714): “in the last days; that is, as some of the rabbin
themselves acknowledge, in the days of the Messiah”
C. F.
Keil (1891): “‘at the end of the days’ ... always denotes
the Messianic era when used by the prophets (see at Hos. 3:5).”
B.
Waltke (2007): “denoting the final period of history so far as
the speaker’s perspective reaches… It is not a technical
expression for the end of history… rather… [it] varies… seems
to mean’the future’ … ‘days to come.”
7“In a figurative, not a physical sense; Zion will be the religious metropolis of the world, the focus of men’s spiritual desire (Kimchi).” ~Cohen cf. Calvin “he speaks here of the eminence of dignity… it would be a spiritual kingdom” Owen’s footnote in Calvin’s commentary: “Tertullian, Jerome, and Augustine, interpret it of Christ; while others, namely, Origen, the two Cyrils, and Chrysostom, regard it as signifying the Church; and with the latter most modern commentators [including Owen and Marckius] agree.” Keil, however, wrote, “The mountain of the house of Jehovah is the temple mountain, strictly speaking, Moriah, as the distinction made between the mountain of the house and Zion in Mic. 3:12 clearly shows… [But] This exaltation is of course not a physical one, as Hofmann, Drechsler, and several of the Rabbins suppose, but a spiritual (ethical) elevation above all the mountains. This is obvious from Mic. 4:2, according to which Zion will tower above all the mountains, because the law of the Lord issues from it.” Waltke added: “symbolic significance that it, and the God worshipped there, will be established as the true place of worship in contrast to pagan temple-mountains that rival it… symbolized his universal kingdom (cf. Ps 68:15–18)... higher than any other mountain, showing that I AM’s rule extends throughout the whole earth.”
8Gilby
turned it on its head to suggest that it referred to the future
repentance of Jews toward faith in Jesus Christ, but Henry saw it
clearly depicting the gospel age of the church: “in gospel-times
many nations shall flow into the church.”
cf. Waltke:
“[T]hese prophecies... embrace a beginning of fulfillment in
Israel’s restoration from the exile, a victorious fulfillment in
the church age stretching from Christ’s first advent to his
parousia, and a consummation in the eschatological new heaven and
earth when the spiritual kingdom is coextensive with creation… The
“latter days” in Micah 4–5 include the remnant’s restoration
from Babylon (4:9–10), the birth of the Messiah (5:1[2]), and his
universal rule and everlasting peace (4:1– 4; 5:3[4]).”
9“And he will teach us of his ways. Here the Prophet in a few words defines the legitimate worship of God…” ~Calvin
10cf. Anthony Gilby: “fulfylled partlye when it pleased him at the time appointed to send his sonne so to be exalted that he shuld drawe al thinges vnto hym… The ‘hyll of my house’ (my chosen I do meane) ...thys churche and house of the faythfull…. Thus lo the true temple of God and the house wherin the holy gost dwelleth, which ar we, so manye as do beleife.”
11“od rechuk, ‘afar off’ ... may intimate a length of time as well as distance of place.” ~Calvin
12Figs and Grapes as blessing are in: Deut. 8:8, 1 Ki. 4:25, 2 Ki. 18:31, Cant. 2:13, Isa. 36:16, Joel 2:22, and Zech. 3:10.
13This in vivid contrast to the panicked flight Micah probably had to make from his unfortified hometown of Moresheth into the walled city of Jerusalem when Sennacherib attacked.
14Keil saw it as future to the “Christian dispensation,” commenting, “the predicted exaltation of the temple mountain is assigned to the period of the completion of the kingdom of God.” Calvin, however, took this prophecy as poetic overstatement and limited these promises only to the church in this age, mostly in a figurative sense, saying, “We now then understand the meaning of the Prophet to be that under the reign of Christ the faithful shall enjoy true and full happiness, as they shall be exempt from trembling and fear.” Calvin’s editor, Owen, quoted Marckius approvingly: “All these predictions must be confined to the nations converted by the word of Jehovah, and brought into Zion, that is, such as truly repent and believe, and must not be extended to all nations indiscriminately.” I prefer Waltke’s take: “The pilgrimage of the nations to Jerusalem symbolized their coming to Mt. Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22)… Micah does not have in view a universal carnal kingdom, but a spiritual kingdom that originates in heaven, is directed by the law of heaven, and is journeying heavenward... O.T. worship had, from its beginning, primarily in view the eternal heavenly realities behind the symbols (Ex. 25:9, Heb. 8:5).”
15An allusion to 1 Kings 4:25 “And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan as far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.” (NKJV) but projected beyond the peace of Solomon in time and degree.
16“Make America Great Again” – his U.S. Presidential campaign slogan in 2016, 2020, and 2024.
AMy
original chart includes the following copyrighted English versions:
NASB, NIV, ESV, Bauscher’s version of the Peshitta, and Cathcart’s
version of the Targums, but I remove these columns from my public,
non-copyrighted edition of this chart so as not to infringe on their
copyrights. NAW is my translation. When a translation adds words not
in the Hebrew text, but does not indicate it has done so by the use
of italics or greyed-out text, I put the added words in [square
brackets]. When one version chooses a wording which is different
from all the other translations, I underline it. When a
version chooses a translation which, in my opinion, either departs
too far from the root meaning of the Hebrew word or departs too far
from the grammar form of the original text, I use strikeout.
And when a version omits a word which is in the original text, I
insert an X. I also place an X at the end of a word if the original
word is plural but the English translation is singular. I
occasionally use colors to help the reader see correlations between
the various editions and versions when there are more than two
different translations of a given word. The only known Dead Sea
Scrolls containing Micah 4 are 4Q82 containing part of verses 1-2
and dated between 30-1 BC, The Nahal Hever Greek scroll,
containing parts of vs. 3-10 and dated around 25BC and the Wadi
Muraba’at Scroll, containing parts verses 1-13 and dated around
135 AD. Where the DSS is legible and in agreement with the MT, the
MT is colored purple. Where the DSS
supports the LXX/Vulgate/Peshitta with omissions or text not in the
MT, I have highlighted with
yellow the LXX and its translation into English, and where I
have accepted that into my NAW translation, I have marked it with
{pointed brackets}.
BDouay Old Testament first published by the English College at Douay, A.D. 1609, Revised and Diligently Compared with the Latin Vulgate by Bishop Richard Challoner, Published in 1582, 1609, 1752. As published on E-Sword.
C“Septuagint” Greek Old Testament, edited by Alfred Rahlfs. Published in 1935. As published on E-Sword.
DEnglish translation of the Septuagint by Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton, 1851, “based upon the text of the Vaticanus” but not identical to the Vaticanus. As published electronically by E-Sword.
E1769 King James Version of the Holy Bible; public domain. As published electronically by E-Sword.
FFrom
the Wiki Hebrew Bible
https://he.wikisource.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%99%D7%9B%D7%94_%D7%91/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%AA
.
DSS text comes from https://downloads.thewaytoyahuweh.com
G“Modern Bible students should not be misled by the word eschatos … and should not read eschatological meanings into contexts which do not anticipate any kind of an end.” ~G. W. Buchanan (as quoted by Waltke)
HThis verse is word-for-word the same as Isaiah 2:2, except the last word, instead of “peoples,” is “all nations” in Isaiah (and an extra “who”), but no substantial difference in meaning. Calvin made a big deal in his commentary about this address being to the faithful after the previous chapters of warning to the wicked, but I see no emphasis on this in the text, even if it may be a logical deduction.
I“בְּרֹאשׁ,
upon (not at) the top of” ~Keil
This word “chief” stands
in positive contrast to the corrupt “heads” of the nation
criticized in the previous chapter!
JBesides this passage in Micah and Isaiah, this verb only occurs in Jeremiah 31:12 and 51:44.
K“all” is in Isaiah and in the Syriac versions of this verse in Micah, but not in the Hebrew MT or Greek or Latin of Micah (Owen mentions three manuscripts which contain the word “all” but doesn’t identify them.).
LThis verse is word-for-word the same as Isaiah 2:3 except that the first goyim is ammim (“peoples”) in Isaiah – and there is an extra vav conjunction, but no substantial difference in meaning.
M“many” or “great” - Abarbanel, Keil, & Waltke accepted both, but most English versions rendered “many.”
N“ʿlh is a technical term for making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem as in Jer. 31:6; Zech. 14:17; Ps. 122:4.” ~Waltke
OAquilla & Symmachus = μεταξυ – synonym for “between/in the middle of.”
PThis phrase is not in Nahal Hever or MT or any other ancient version.
QNahal Hever uses the prefix συν- which doesn’t change the meaning.
RLarge, broad-sword. Nahal Hever uses the synonym μαχαιραν (“sword/saber/knife”).
S“Spears.” Nahal Hever uses the synonym σιβυ- (subsequent letters being illegible); Fields found other manuscripts which used the synonym sibunas (“spears”).
TEti (“yet/still”) not in Nahal Hever. No significant difference in meaning, though.
UN.H. spelled this word with a theta instead of a tau – probably no difference in meaning, as they are related phonemes. The LXX of the parallel passage translates this phase with synonyms: ου ληψεται (“does not take”).
VLarge, broad-sword. Nahal Hever uses the synonym μαχαιραν (“sword/saber/knife”).
WThis
verse is almost word-for-word the same as Isaiah 2:4, except for
switches between the words for “peoples” and “nations” and
the adjective “great” that goes with some of those two words.
Micah also adds the adjectives “far and wide” at one point to
describe these nations.
Peshitta changes the first verb to 2nd
person “you shall judge,” but that is not corroborated by
any other manuscripts. (Bausher translated correctly. Lamsa either
translated incorrectly or was looking at some other Peshitta edition
unknown to me.) Conversely, Calvin’s editor, Owen, cited Justin
Martyr, Irenaeus, and Marckius in support of his opinion that the
subject “he” should be “it” - the word of the Gospel”
rather than Christ, but Calvin translated it “He.”
Waltke
noted that these verbs for “judge” and “teach” in this verse
offer a positive contrast to the “judging” and “teaching” of
the wicked political and spiritual leaders in the previous chapter.
XThis word is dropped in the Peshitta of Micah and in the Hebrew of Isaiah.
Y“until
far away” is not in Isaiah’s edition. It is only found three
other places in the HOT as a phrase:
2 Chronicles 26:15
“And he made devices in Jerusalem... So his fame spread far and
wide,” (NKJV)
Ezra 3:13 “...the people shouted
with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off.”
(NKJV)
Isaiah 57:9 “You... sent your ambassadors unto
faraway (places)…” (NAW)
ZThis paragogic nun is not in Isaiah. Waltke suggested that it “may denote the certainty of the vision.”
AA“each” cf. Nahal Hever ανηρ (“a man”)
ABNahal Hever, Aquilla, and Theodotion did not repeat this word here as the LXX did, neither did the MT, Vulgate, Peshitta, or Targums.
ACNahal Hever uses YHWH in paleo-Hebrew letters (jwjy) to render the Hebrew name for God. The little that is legible in the following word appears to be a synonym to the LXX “all-powerful” – των δυναμενων (“the powerful one” – greyed-out letters being illegible).
AD“Again (cf. yiśʾ û in 4:3Abα) the [plural] verb is in ad sensum agreement with the singular subject. As gôy … gôy in 4:3Abα broke down gôyim of 4:2A and 4:3A into individuals, so ʾîš (man) (cf. 2:11) breaks down gôy even further to each of its individuals.” ~Waltke
AEWaltke commented that the “Participle… emphasizes a durative situation.”
AFNahal Hever is mostly illegible at this point, but it is about 10 characters shorter than the LXX. Dropping out the “each man” (which is in the MT, but which N.H. dropped out earlier) and then following the MT (and other ancient versions ) with “in the name of its god” would fit. Fields found other Greek manuscripts reading with the MT εν ονοματι θεου.
AG“consessive… ‘even if’” ~Waltke
AH“unending perpetuity” ~Waltke
AIN.H. reads the synonymous phrase ‘αν εκακωσα (“whom I had harmed” - greyed-out letters being illegible).
AJThe paragogic/cohortative he endings on the verbs in this verse (“let me gather… let me assemble”) carry an emphasis that is hard to translate into English.
AKThis verb “to limp” is only found in Gen. 32:32 and Zeph. 3:19. This and the next word for “outcast/exiled” are both feminine in Hebrew, which is hard to bring over into English, but perhaps is intended to connote weakness and to elicit compassion. Israel is sometimes referred to in the feminine gender in the Old Testament, and the church is always feminine in the New Testament. There is only one ancient manuscript (Vulgate) which agrees with this word in the MT, and there is no DSS with legibility at this part of the verse to corroborate the MT, so the fact that the LXX (“crush”), the Peshitta (רחיקא “those far away”), and Targums (מְטֻלטְלַיָא “the homeless ones”) say something slightly different than “she who limps/is lame” is considerable, but the corroboration of Zeph. 3:19 with the MT of this passage in Micah is also considerable.
ALThis Hebrew verb for “outcast/exile/driven out” is used frequently to denote the Israelites driven out of Israel by the Assyrians and Chaldeans in God’s chastisement of His people (Deut. 30:1, Isa. 8:22, Jer. 8:3, 24:9, 27:10-15, 29:18, 43:5, 46:28, 49:5, 50:17, Ezek. 4:13, Dan. 9:7, Joel 2:20), and it is also in the passages promising a return from exile to reconstruct the nation (Deut. 30:4, Neh. 9:1, Isa. 11:12, 27:13, Jer. 16:5, 23:3, 29:14, 30:17, 32:37, 40:12, Ezek. 34:16, Zeph. 3:19). The KJV is correct, by the way; the Hebrew and Greek don’t read “they” but “her [feminine singular] who is driven out.”
AMcf. Mic. 5:6-7, Rom. 9:27 (which uses the same word for “remnant” as the LXX of Micah).
ANHapex Legomenon. BDB sees derivation from הלאה, which is used in Amos 5:27 where the LORD says, “Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus" (NKJV) – clearly referencing the same idea of being sent “far away,” “beyond” the Euphrates River in Babylon. NASB followed the Targums in the assumption that this word was supposed to be the same as הַנִּדָּחָה from v.6, but there are too many different letters for that supposition to be plausible. It is a synonym at any rate.
AOLike the “mighty nations” mentioned in v.3! Also in Isa. 60:22 and Zech. 8:22.
APAlthough Lamsa’s English translation of the Peshitta omits it, the Peshitta inserts “and Jerusalem,” but this insertion is not in any other manuscript.