Micah 4:5-8 Regathering of God’s People

Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church of Manhattan, KS, 22 Sept. 2024

Introduction

After three chapters detailing the sins of the people of Israel and Judah and warning of God’s coming judgment against them, Micah turns in chapter 4 to predict the future peace and blessings of God’s people.
- We see a similar pattern in the New Testament book of Romans, where the Apostle Paul spends the first three chapters making sure we know that we are all hopelessly lost in our own sin before revealing at the end of chapter 3, “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets [like Micah!], even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.” (Romans 3:21-26, NKJV)
- “Messages that dismantle the old, followed by those that build up the new age, characterize the pre-exilic prophetic literature… God’s gracious salvation of man has the last word, not his judgment...” ~B. Waltke, 2007 AD
Also “It is characteristic of many OT oracles of promise that they do not merely record hope for the future, but lay a realistic trail from the hopelessness of the present to prospects of coming glory.” ~L. Allen, as quoted by Waltke¹
- In verses 1-4 we see the Exaltation and Population of the kingdom of God, which I believe was inaugurated by the earthly ministry of Christ and His apostles, and then we see the blessed life of peace and justice under the reign of Jesus, the ultimate lawgiver and judge, in the world to come.
- Now, in verses 5-8, we are going to see a repeat of this good news², starting with a prophecy fulfilled when the Jews were released from exile in Babylon, but moving toward ultimate fulfillment of the direct reign of Jesus Himself.
Read my translation: v.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. “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! Yes, you, tower of the flock – {obscurity} of the daughter of Zion – unto you it shall come, that is, the chief rulership will come – the kingdom – to the daughter of Jerusalem!”

v. 5 – Covenanting with God Over Good News

Now, how should we respond to this kind of good news? Micah’s response in v.5 is in the form of a covenant³: “...we will conduct ourselves in the name of Yahweh our God for ever…”
Make no mistake, everybody has a god, and they pattern their life after their own god.
- 2 Kings 17:29 “...every nation continued to make gods of its own, and put them in the shrines on the high places... every nation in the cities where they dwelt.” (NKJV)
- I’ve described before the four functions of deity that every human being craves: a god
  - defines truth and reality for us,
  - explains how we came into existence and what our purpose is,
  - distinguishes right from wrong,
  - and shows us how to fix what is wrong with our world.
- Some look to human beings to do this, some look to material things, some look to evil spirits,
- but we all become like the god we choose to walk with. (Psalm 115:8 “Those who make them are like them; So is everyone who trusts in them.” NKJV)
Faith involves a choice as to which god we will follow to define our reality and purpose – and to save us from evil. We, the people of God - align ourselves with Yahweh, the God of the Bible, and makes the pledge: “we will walk in the name of the LORD for ever and ever.”
- Like Joshua did back in Joshua 24:15 “...choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.” (NKJV, cf. Zech. 10:12)
- Have you made that pledge? Are you walking in covenant with the one true God? Baptism is the main way we make that covenant today.
In Isaiah’s parallel prophecy, he says, “Let’s walk in the LIGHT of the LORD.” Walk in the Name of LORD, in the light of the LORD, in the word of the LORD, and (v.3) walk in His paths. This is what God is calling us to. (cf. Isa. 26:8 & 13)
What does it mean to “walk in the name” of someone? The New Testament applies this terminology to the relationship of Christians to Jesus:
- Certainly it means to trust Jesus to make you right with God (“believe in the name” John 3:18, 1 John 5:13) and to direct all your prayers to God through Jesus, praying “in Jesus’ name” (Eph. 5:20, James 5:14).
- Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (NKJV)
- Matthew 28:18-20 And Jesus approached and spoke to them saying, “Every authority in heaven and upon earth was given to me, therefore once y’all have proceeded, start discipling all the ethnicities, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to keep all of whatever I commanded y’all, and see, I myself am with y’all all your days until the conclusion of the age.” (NAW)
“‘All nations then shall walk,’ that is, when the temple and the city shall be demolished, and the people be led into distant exile, the ungodly will, at the same time, triumph; every one will extol his own gods [cf. Hab. 1]: though our God should not then appear, there will yet be no reason why we should be discouraged; but we ought to recomb on his word. We shall then walk in the name of our God, and that for ever and ever; that is, though it should happen that the world should a hundred times be turned and turned over again, there shall yet be no change in our minds: for as the truth of God is eternal, so also our faith ought to be constant and never to vary… the faithful ought thus to embrace the word of God, as they know that they have not to do with men, the credit of whom is doubtful and inconstant, but with him who is the true God, who cannot lie, and whose truth is immutable.” ~J. Calvin, 1559 AD
“If Micah’s generation, not having seen even a portion of the vision fulfilled, pledged themselves to fidelity, how much more should the church, which in the course of history has seen many parts of the vision fulfilled, hold on to the end (cf. 2 Pet 3:11–12; 1 John 3:3).” ~B. Waltke, 2007 AD

vs. 6-7 God’s Promise of Restoration After Exile

Over 100 years before Nebuchadnezzar actually took the Jews from Jerusalem into captivity, and almost 200 years before Cyrus decreed that the remnant of the Jews could return and rebuild Jerusalem into a strong city, God promised to re-assemble on Mt. Zion the Jews which would be driven out of Judah into exile. These events were prophesied not only by Micah (both here and in chapter 2 and chapter 5⁴) but by most of the other prophets during this time⁵, for instance:
- Jeremiah 50:17-20 “Israel is like scattered sheep; The lions have driven him away. First the king of Assyria devoured him; Now at last this Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon has broken his bones. Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, As I have punished the king of Assyria. But I will bring back Israel to his home, And he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan; His soul shall be satisfied on Mount Ephraim and Gilead. In those days and in that time,’ says the LORD, ‘The iniquity of Israel shall be sought, but there shall be none; And the sins of Judah, but they shall not be found; For I will pardon those whom I preserve.’” (NKJV)
- Zephaniah 3:19 “Behold, at that time I will deal with all who afflict you; I will save the lame, And gather those who were driven out; I will appoint them for praise and fame In every land where they were put to shame.” (NKJV)
- Ezekiel 34:16 “I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick… 37:21 “...Thus says the Lord GOD: Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land.” (NKJV)
- Isaiah 56:6-8 “Even the sons of the foreigner... I will cause them to go to my holy mountain, and I will make them joyful in my house of prayer... The Lord Yahweh, who gathers the outcasts of Israel declares, ‘Again I will gather to him in addition to his gathered ones. 60:21-22 And your people – all of them – will be righteous; forever they will take over the land as the branch of His planting, the work of His hands, to beautify Himself. The little one will become a thousand, and the insignificant one a mighty nation...” (NAW)
What this tells us is that God is in control of history. He knows what will happen in the future. Not only does he know, but He is actually guiding what happens.
- This feminine singular “limping one” and “outcast/exiled one” mentioned in Micah 4:6 (and Zephaniah 3:19) is Israel.
- It hearkens back to the father of their nation, Jacob, who had to flee for his life to another country and whose hip was injured in a wrestling match with the angel of the Lord. Likewise his descendants, the nation of Israel, experienced exile and affliction from God. (Waltke)
- The Hebrew root behind the last verb Micah uses in v. 6 (“afflicted/brought to grief”) is the same root used back in Micah 2:3 when God said, “Look, I am planning against this clan something terrible/grievous – that is, something from which you’re not going to remove your necks; indeed, y’all aren’t going to walk arrogantly because it’s going to be a terrible time [of affliction].”) God caused both the calamity and the restoration⁶. He “afflicted” them, and He will also restore them.
- The prophesied exile was God’s way of bringing discipline to His people for their rebellion against Him, of helping them repent of their idolatry, and of refining them to be more faithful. Restoring them to their homeland was God’s way of showing His continuing mercy and care for His people.
- Never forget that, as you take-in the news of world events today. History is not spiraling out of control to simply get worse and worse. Wars and disasters and injustices are all under God’s control, and He is using them to accomplish His purposes of building His church and making His people more holy.
- And He will not allow the stresses to become more than you can bear with trust in Him (1 Cor. 10:13); His discipline will not be forever (Ps. 103:9); He will bring restoration.
Now, the regathering of the nation of Israel under Zerubbabel and Ezra and Nehemiah after the Babylonian exile was the first wave of fulfillment of this prophecy. But there was a second next wave of fulfillment in the gospels, where Jesus “gathered” followers who had been “rejected” because they had been broken by sin⁷:
- Matthew 9:35-36 “And Jesus was going around to all the cities and the villages, teaching in their synagogues, and announcing the good news of the kingdom, and healing every illness and every infirmity. And when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless⁸, as sheep not having a shepherd.” (NAW) Matthew’s words “harassed and helpless” are synonymous with Micah’s words “lame and outcast.”
- Think through what you remember of the Gospels, when Jesus encountered the demon-possessed, the tax collectors, the prostitutes, the lepers, the hemorrhaging, the blind, and the lame – all of whom were disqualified according to the Mosaic ceremonial law from entering temple worship, and yet who were all received by Jesus when they put their faith in Him!
- This continued into the church. The Apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 1:26-30 “For y'all see your calling, brothers, that not many were wise according to the flesh, not many were powerful, not many were upper-class. But it was the stupid ones of the world God chose for Himself in order that He might put down the strength of the wise men, and it was the weak ones of the world God chose for Himself in order that He might put down the strength of the strong, and the ones without class of the world and the ones that have been despised God chose for Himself... in order that... all flesh might not boast before the face of God. Now it is from Him that you have existence in Christ Jesus, who became wisdom to us from God and also righteousness, holiness, and redemption.” (NAW)
- The Apostle Paul also picked up on the word “remnant” (originally used in the Greek Old Testament to describe the survivors of the Babylonian exile), and he applies it to the Gentile Christians who were joining the church in the New Testament! This is the current wave of fulfillment of Micah’s prophecy:
  - Romans 9:24-27 "...the Gentiles… shall be called sons of the living God... ‘the remnant will be saved.’” (NKJV)
  - Romans 11:5 “Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace.”
  - We often think of “remnant” negatively in terms of something small and negligible, but here it is used positively in the sense of that which is hardy and tenacious and alive rather than extinct⁹.
  - And that is still going on! Jesus is currently still on mission to save some from every tribe and language and ethnic group in the world.
  - Joel 2:32 “And it shall come to pass That whoever calls on the name of the LORD Shall be saved. For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be deliverance, As the LORD has said, Among the remnant whom the LORD calls.” (NKJV)
“Christ will come himself (Mat. 15:24), and send his apostles ‘to the lost sheep of the house of Israel’ (Mat. 10:6)... And from among the Gentiles that were ‘cast far off’ (so the Gentiles are described to be, Eph. 2:13, Acts 2:39) he raised a ‘strong nation’; greater numbers of them were brought into the church than of the Jews (Gal. 4:27). And such a strong nation the gospel-church is that ‘the gates of hell shall never be able to prevail against’ it. The church of Christ is more numerous than any other nation, and ‘strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.’” ~M. Henry, 1714 AD
And, not only will God’s remnant of outcasts be “gathered” and made into a “strong nation¹⁰,” the LORD Himself will become their king and stay king forever with them!

v. 7-8 The Eternal Reign of the LORD

This is the ultimate fulfillment of the covenant God made with David in 2 Samuel 7:12-13 “I will cause an offspring of yours to get going after you who will come out from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. It is he who will build a house for my name. Then I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.” (NAW, cf. Psalm 89 and 132)
The fulfillment of this prophecy in Christ Jesus has been anticipated ever since by God’s people:
- Psalm 146:5-10 “Happy is he who has the God of Jacob for his help, Whose hope is in the LORD his God, Who made heaven and earth, The sea, and all that is in them; Who keeps truth forever, Who executes justice for the oppressed, Who gives food to the hungry. The LORD gives freedom to the prisoners. The LORD opens the eyes of the blind; The LORD raises those who are bowed down; The LORD loves the righteous. The LORD watches over the strangers; He relieves the fatherless and widow; But the way of the wicked He turns upside down. The LORD shall reign forever—Your God, O Zion, to all generations. Praise the LORD!” (NKJV, cf. Psalm 2:6, Ex. 15:18)
- Isaiah 9:7 “Of His empire's increase and of peace there will be no end. On David's throne and over his kingdom to cause it to be established and to uphold it in justice and righteousness, from now until eternity. Yahweh of Hosts' zeal will do this… 24:23 Then the moon will blush and the sun will pale, for Yahweh of hosts reigns on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and the feature of His elders is glory!” (NAW)
- Daniel 2:44 “...the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed; and the kingdom shall not be left to other people; it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever… 4:3 ...His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, And His dominion is from generation to generation.” (NKJV, cf. 7:14 & 27)
- That’s also what the angel told Mary would happen to Jesus: Luke 1:33 “And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” (NKJV)
- And it’s what we see of the risen and glorified Christ in Revelation 11:15 “Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’” (NKJV)
Let me point out that since this reign is “forever and ever,” it can’t be speaking of a mere thousand year reign. Ever since His ascension into heaven, Jesus has been on the throne of heaven, reigning in this world, but this seems to be referring to the age to come¹¹, in which His reign will be openly revealed, no longer challenged by rebels, and will never end.
- The “Mount Zion”¹² referred to here in Micah, then, must be the same “Mt. Zion” as the one mentioned in Hebrews 12:22 that is explicitly called the “heavenly Jerusalem” – and the “Mt. Zion” of Rev. 14, on which the “lamb [of God] stands,” which is also in “heaven.”
- Notice that the ideal is not freedom from government (as the Marxists and radical Libertarians imagine) but community under King Jesus! (Waltke)
Verse 8 is very emphatic¹³ in its promise of a king coming to Israel.
- Part of the emphasis is in the appelatives:
  - The word “you” is emphatically stated at the beginning of both halves of the verse. “You… yes, even to you, O daughter of Jerusalem!”
  - And then there is the repetition of the names: “tower of the flock… daughter of Zion… daughter of Jerusalem.”
  - Migdal-Eder, or in English, “Tower of the flock,” is not used anywhere else in the Bible except as the name of a settlement near Jerusalem mentioned in Genesis 35:21.
    - The Soncino Commentary on Micah indicates that it was common for shepherds to in the Judean hill country to build small towers for shelter and observation of their sheep. Shepherding was a common vocation in the area, so God referred to the Jews endearingly as His “flock” of sheep.
      - Jeremiah 13:17 “But if you will not hear it, My soul will weep in secret for your pride; My eyes will weep bitterly And run down with tears, Because the LORD'S flock [eder] has been taken captive.” (NKJV)
      - Micah 2:12 “I will surely gather each of you, Jacob; I will surely assemble a remnant of Israel. I will put it together like sheep in the enclosure – like a flock [eder] in the midst of its feed-lot…” (NAW)
    - Matthew Henry even suggested that the “Tower of the Flock” could have been the very place where the angels announced Jesus’ birth to the shepherds¹⁴.
    - But the more-contemporary commentators generally agree that it was a name for the ancient fortress-tower of Jerusalem itself.
  - “Daughter of Zion” and “Daughter of Jerusalem” are also endearing terms used of the Jewish residents of Jerusalem, but the adjective describing the daughter of Zion is controversial.
    - Every ancient manuscript of this verse from before the year 900AD describes the daughter of Zion as “dark/cloudy/obscure.” (That’s what the Dead Sea Scrolls say, and what Christians read for 1,500 years in the Aramaic Peshitta, Septuagint Greek, and Latin Vulgate translations of the Old Testament.)
    - But the Masoretic Hebrew Old Testament, which was edited in the early Renaissance period, reads “swelling/hill.” And many English versions embellished beyond that meaning to render it a “stronghold.” Others have even added the adjective “fortified,” which is not in any manuscript. Understandably, the modern versions connect it with the archaeological discovery in the early 1900’s of the south wall of the original city of Jerusalem which is also called the “Ophel.”
    - Whatever it is, I don’t think it is a flattering description; it is spoken in love to a weak and broken people – perhaps like Jesus called his disciples “little-faiths.¹⁵”
- The other part of the emphasis of this promise is the repetition of the words for kingship and the repetition of the verbs for “coming” – the king is coming!
- Keil’s exposition is also excellent: “‘[A]t the end of the days’, already points to the Messianic times: and the substance of the promise itself points to the times of the completion of the Messianic kingdom, i.e., to the establishment of the kingdom of glory (Mat. 19:28). The temple mountain is a type of the kingdom of God in its New Testament form, which is described by all the prophets after the forms of the Old Testament kingdom of God. Accordingly, the going of the nations to the mountain of the house of Jehovah is, as a matter of fact, the entrance of the heathen who have been brought to the faith into the kingdom of Christ. This commenced with the spread of the gospel among the Gentiles, and has been continued through all the ages of the Christian church. But however many nations have hitherto entered into the Christian church, the time has not yet come for them to be so entirely pervaded with the spirit of Christ, as to allow their disputes to be settled by the Lord as their King, or to renounce war, and live in everlasting peace. Even for Israel the time has not yet come for the limping and exiled to be gathered together and made into a strong nation, however many individual Jews have already found salvation and peace within the bosom of the Christian church. The cessation of war and establishment of eternal peace can only take place after the destruction of all the ungodly powers on earth, at the return of Christ to judgment and for the perfecting of His kingdom. But even then, when, according to Rom. 11:25, the pleroma of the Gentiles shall have entered into the kingdom of God, and Israel as a nation (πᾶς Ἰσραήλ = יַעֲקֹב כֻּלּוֹ in Mic. 2:12) shall have turned to its Redeemer... The kingdom of glory will be set up on the new earth, in the Jerusalem which was shown to the holy seer on Patmos in the Spirit, on a great and lofty mountain (Rev. 21:10). In this holy city of God there will be no temple, ‘for the Lord, the Almighty God, and the Lamb, are the temple thereof’ (Rev. 21:22). The word of the Lord to the Samaritan woman concerning the time when ‘men would neither worship God on this mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem, but worship Him in spirit and in truth’ (John 4:21-23), applies not only to the kingdom of God in its temporal development into the Christian church, but also to the time of the completion of the kingdom of God in glory.”
It helps to keep the big picture in mind like that, but let me leave you with two main applications from this passage:
- Trust God, accepting His discipline and looking forward to the fulfillment of His promise to come and reign (vs. 6-8),
- and Covenant with God to walk with Him forever (v.5).

Micah 4:4-8 – Side-by side comparison of versions^{^A}

Douay^B (Vulgate)	LXX^C	Brenton^D (Vaticanus)	KJV^E	NAW	MT^F
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 ἕκαστος^G ὑποκάτω ἀμπέλου αὐτοῦ καὶ [ἕκαστος^H] ὑποκάτω συκῆς αὐτοῦ, καὶ οὐκ ἔσται ὁ ἐκφοβῶν, διότι τὸ στόμα κυρίου^I 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) וְיָשְׁבוּ^J אִישׁ תַּחַת גַּפְנוֹ וְתַחַת תְּאֵנָתוֹ וְאֵין מַחֲרִיד^K 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 ~~ὁδὸν~~ X^L αὐτοῦ, ἡμεῖς δὲ πορευσόμεθα ἐν ὀνόματι κυρίου θεοῦ ἡμῶν εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα καὶ ἐπέκεινα.	5 For all [other] nations shall walk everyone in his own X ~~way~~, but we X will walk in the name of the Lord our God for ever and ever.	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) כִּי^M כָּל הָעַמִּים יֵלְכוּ אִישׁ בְּשֵׁם אֱלֹהָיו^N וַאֲנַחְנוּ נֵלֵךְ בְּשֵׁם יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ^O לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד^P.
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 ~~συντετριμ~~~~μένην~~ καὶ τὴν ἐξωσμένην εἰσδέξομαι καὶ οὓς ἀπωσάμην^Q·	6 In that day, saith the Lord, I will gather her that is ~~bruised~~, and will receive her that is cast out, and those whom I rejected.	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^R הַהוּא נְאֻם^S יְהוָה אֹסְפָה^T הַצֹּלֵעָה^U וְהַנִּדָּחָה^V אֲקַבֵּצָה ^Wוַאֲשֶׁר הֲרֵעֹתִי^X.
7 And I will ~~make~~ her that halted, X a remnant: and her that had been afflicted, X a mighty nation: and the Lord will reign over them in Mt. Sion, from this time now and forever.	7 καὶ θήσομαι τὴν ~~συντε~~~~τριμ~~~~μένη~~ν εἰς ὑπόλειμμα καὶ τὴν ἀπωσμένην εἰς ἔθνος ἰσχυρόν, καὶ βασιλεύσει κύριος ἐπ᾿ αὐτοὺς ἐν ὄρει Σιων ἀπὸ τοῦ νῦν καὶ ἕως εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.	7 And I will ~~make~~ her that was ~~bruised~~ X a remnant, and her that was rejected X a mighty nation: and the Lord shall reign over them in mt. Sion from henceforth, even for ever.	7 And I will ~~make~~ her that halted X a remnant, and her that was cast far off X a strong nation: and the LORD shall reign over them in mt. Zion from henceforth, even for ever.	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^Y אֶת הַצֹּלֵעָה לִשְׁאֵרִית^Z וְהַנַּהֲלָאָה^AA לְגוֹי עָצוּם^AB וּמָלַךְ^AC יְהוָה עֲלֵיהֶם בְּהַר צִיּוֹן^AD מֵעַתָּה וְעַד עוֹלָם^AE.
8 And thou, O cloudy tower of the flock, of the daughter of Sion, unto thee shall it come: yea the first power shall come, the kingdom to the daughter of Jerusalem.	8 καὶ σύ, πύργος ποιμνίου αὐχμώδης^AF, θύγατερ Σιων, ἐπὶ σὲ ἥξει καὶ εἰσελεύσεται ἡ ἀρχὴ ἡ πρώτη, βασιλεία [ἐκ Βαβυλῶνος^AG] τῇ θυγατρὶ Ιερουσαλημ.	8 And thou, dark tower of the flock, daughter of Sion, on thee the dominion shall come and enter in, even the first kingdom [from Babylon] to the daughter of Jerusalem.	8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the ~~strong~~ hold of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem.	8 Yes, you, tower of the flock – {obscurity} of the daughter of Zion – unto you it shall come, that is, the chief rulership will come – the kingdom – to the daughter of Jerusalem.”	(ח)^AHוְאַתָּה מִגְדַּל עֵדֶר ^AIעֹפֶל בַּת צִיּוֹן^AJ עָדֶיךָ תֵּאתֶה וּבָאָה הַמֶּמְשָׁלָה הָרִאשֹׁנָה^AK מַמְלֶכֶת ^ALלְבַת יְרוּשָׁלָ͏ִם^AM.

1Waltke also noted the development from scattered flock to one gathered under a tower of safety.

2“Verses 6–7, a second oracle of salvation, links with the first, 4:1–5, by belonging to the same future ‘in that day,’ by the themes of ‘Mount Zion’ (4:1–2, 6), of the coming/gathering to it (4:2, 6–7), of mighty nation(s) (4:3, 7A), of I AM’s eternal rulership over his people (4:5, 7A), and of his authoritative speech… These vocabulary links between the successive oracles serve to unite their messages. They are something like the edges of pieces in a jigsaw puzzle fitting the sections and their pieces together into a comprehensive picture.” ~B. Waltke, 2007 AD

3Keil disagreed with the covenant renewal interpretation and framed v.5 merely as a statement of fact; however the concluding “for ever and ever” is a statement of faith, not a mere indicative, so even Keil approaches the idea of covenant.

4Micah 2:12 “I will surely gather each of you, Jacob; I will surely assemble a remnant of Israel....” (NAW)
Micah 5:7-8 “Then the remnant of Jacob Shall be in the midst of many peoples... And the remnant of Jacob Shall be among the Gentiles, In the midst of many peoples, Like a lion among the beasts of the forest...” (NKJV)

5cf. also Psalm 147:2 “The LORD builds up Jerusalem; He gathers together the outcasts of Israel.” (NKJV)

6cf. Amos 5:27 where the same root Micah used in v.7 for “the one who was far away” is translated “beyond” when the LORD says, “Therefore I will send you into captivity beyond Damascus” (NKJV). It was God’s doing to send them “far away/beyond” the Euphrates River in Babylon.

7“With regard to political redemption that future began to be fulfilled with the restoration from Babylon (cf. 4:9–10), but with regard to Israel’s spiritual redemption it was fulfilled in the work of Jesus Christ…. The deliverance in 701 B.C. serves as a type of the more remotely future salvation.” ~Waltke

8Compare Matthew’s “ἐσκυλμένοι καὶ ἐρριμμένοι” with LXX of Mic. 4:6 “συντετριμμένην καὶ τὴν ἐξωσμένην.”

9“No remnant means no life and existence; a remnant means life and existence for the individual, community, tribe, city or people.” ~Waltke’s quote of G.F. Hasel

10“As the ‘strong nations’ in 4:3 are spiritual nations (cf. Rom 4:16), which have been regenerated from heaven and are making pilgrimage to the heavenly sanctuary, so also the remnant that becomes a strong nation is a spiritual remnant. The vision finds its fulfillment at the present time in the ‘remnant of Israel chosen by grace’ (Rom 11:5). What was not as clearly revealed in the OT as in the NT was that Jew and Gentile on equal footing would together make up the strong nation, the church (Eph. 3:2–6; 1 Pet. 3:9).” ~Waltke

11“[T]hys newe restored kyngdome shal be spiritual, for al men are flesh, and all theyr kyngdomes carnal, the kyngdomes of all menne haue an ende, but thys hathe none ende, therefore is thys the kyngdome of God…” ~A. Gilby, 1551 AD

12“Mount Zion then is now different from what it was formerly; for wherever the doctrine of the Gospel is preached, there is God really worshipped, there sacrifices are offered; in a word, there the spiritual temple exists.” ~J. Calvin

13“The laste verse is so vehementelye broughte forthe by the Prophete to confyrme thys promyse that euerye worde in it is twyse doubled…. and twyse hee saythe shall come that the Iewes shuld not despayre though they do se the time prolonged and defferred.” ~Anthony Gilby

14“[S]ome conjecture it is the same place where the shepherds were keeping their flocks when the angels brought them tidings of the birth of Christ... Some think it is a tower at that gate of Jerusalem which is called the sheep-gate (Neh. 3:32), and conjecture that through that gate Christ rode in triumph into Jerusalem. However, it seems to be put for Jerusalem itself, or for Zion the tower of David... (Ophel... is also a name of a place in Jerusalem Neh. 3:27)… a promise of the glories of the spiritual Jerusalem, the gospel-church, which is; the tower of the flock, that one fold in which all the sheep of Christ are protected under one Shepherd...” ~M. Henry

15Matthew 6:30; 8:26; 14:31; 16:8

16“Israel is regathered and restored not to its corrupt state of the preexilic period or of even the postexilic era but to its ideal future state. J. L. Mays said it well: ‘The dispersion will not be transformed into a mighty nation in order to resume a political career that is the expression of their own power and will. Instead, they will become the social unit whose existence and character is a manifestation of YHWH’s reign over them.’” ~Waltke

17“Hitherto indeed, when the posterity of David held the government, as God himself created both David and his sons, and as they were anointed by his authority and command, it could not have been thought but that the kingdom was his, though he governed his people by the ministry and agency of men: but now God himself will ascend the throne in a conspicuous manner, so that no one may doubt but that he is the king of his people. And this was really and actually fulfilled in the person of Christ.” ~J. Calvin

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“each” cf. Nahal Hever ανηρ (“a man”)

HNahal Hever, Aquilla, and Theodotion did not repeat this word here as the LXX did, neither did the MT, Vulgate, Peshitta, or Targums.

INahal 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).

J“Again (cf. yiśʾ û in 4:3^Abα) the [plural] verb is in ad sensum agreement with the singular subject. As gôy … gôy in 4:3^Abα broke down gôyim of 4:2^A and 4:3^A into individuals, so ʾîš (man) (cf. 2:11) breaks down gôy even further to each of its individuals.” ~Waltke

KWaltke commented that the “Participle… emphasizes a durative situation.”

LNahal 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.

M“consessive… ‘even if’” ~Waltke

NNIV incorrectly translates god as plural (“gods”). Abarbanel, Marckius, and Owen translated this in terms of all the nations adopting YHWH as their God (which works technically but doesn’t make sense with the second half of the verse), but LXX, Vulgate, Peshitta, Targums, Gilby, Calvin, Keil and Waltke interpreted this like the standard English translations as the nations worshiping false Gods (which shifts the fulfillment horizon back from the ultimate heavenly kingdom in v.4 back to the reconstruction era, starting a second cycle of the prophetic message paralleling vs. 1-4 in vs. 5-8).

OKeil: “Walking in the name of God… mean[s]… walking in the strength of God, in which the nature of this God is displayed. This is the meaning of the phrase in 1Sam. 17:45 and Zec. 10:12, where ‘I strengthen them in Jehovah’ forms the basis of ‘and in His name will they walk’ (compare Pro. 18:10...)”

P“unending perpetuity” ~Waltke (Calvin and Henry, on the other hand, saw this as having to exercise faith in spite of enemies for a long time, but the compound formula “for ever and ever” and the encouraging tone of the passage mitigate against their interpretation.)

QN.H. reads the synonymous phrase ‘αν εκακωσα (“whom I had harmed” - greyed-out letters being illegible).

R“‘In that daye’ ‘in the laste dayes’ in the tyme of Messiah, for so doth al interpreters take it…” ~A. Gilby
“This verse then is connected with the kingdom of Christ; for until we are gathered, and Christ shines among us and rules us by his word, there can be in us no constancy, no firmness.” ~J. Calvin
“‘In that day’ points back to the end of the days in Mic. 4:1…” ~C.F. Keil
“[T]he singular yôm is a collective” parallelling “days” from v.1 ~B. Waltke

S“Declares the LORD” “nʾm and of the genitive of authorship yhwh… designates the origin and the authority of the message... The Lord Jesus Christ interpreted this formula to mean an utterance inspired by the Spirit” (Ps. 110:1, Matt 22:43–44) ~B. Waltke

TThe 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. Waltke suggested that they “signif[y] the resolve of God to accomplish his intention.”

UThis 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. (Alternately, Waltke quoted E.R. Follis’ thesis that the feminine – especially the ‘daughter of Jerusalem’ “is an image of… stability, of home, of fixedness.”) 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. Another consideration is the fact that God afflicted Jacob such that he limped, and now his descendants exhibit his limping demeanor in a figurative sense. (Waltke)

VThis 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.”

WWaltke and NASB support me interpreting this as an ascensive vav (“even”). Waltke commented, “it explains why the ‘sheep’ are limping and scattered.”

XThis is different from the Hebrew verb usually translated “afflict” (צור); this means “to cause evil” and relates back to 2:3. The Hiphil indicates that God “caused” the bad thing to happen (“Israel’s painful exile in Babylon” ~Waltke) by means of another party (i.e. Nebuchadnezzar). The perfect tense is used to indicate an event still future to Micah, but prior to the regathering.

YThis is the verb for “set/place/put/enstate,” not the verb for “make/do.” Waltke commented that the vav conjunction “represents a chronological consequent situation to the gathering of the exiles.”

Zcf. Mic. 5:6-7, Rom. 9:27 (which uses the same word for “remnant” as the LXX of Micah).

AAHapex 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. Holladay’s lexicon instead derived the word from הלא (“to stray far”), but the meaning is still close. 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.

ABLike the “mighty nations” mentioned in v.3 (also in Isa. 60:22 and Zech. 8:22).

AC“מָלַךְ is emphatic, expressing the setting up of the perfected monarchy, as it has never yet existed, either in the present or the past.” ~Keil
“I AM is inaugurating a new… and… enduring reign… the new and golden era of the remnant… Mount Zion… may be deliberately ambiguous. Micah may be restricting I AM’s reign to Mount Zion and also viewing the restored remnant as concentrated in ‘heavenly’ Mount Zion (cf. 2:12 and 4:1)… While de jure I AM always reigns (cf. Exod 15:18; 1 Sam 12:12; Ps 145:11–13), de facto Israel does not always experience it.” ~B. Waltke

ADAlthough Lamsa’s English translation of the Peshitta omits it, the Peshitta inserts “and Jerusalem,” but this insertion is not in any other manuscript.

AEKeil’s exposition is excellent: “‘[A]t the end of the days’, already points to the Messianic times: and the substance of the promise itself points to the times of the completion of the Messianic kingdom, i.e., to the establishment of the kingdom of glory (Mat. 19:28). The temple mountain is a type of the kingdom of God in its New Testament form, which is described by all the prophets after the forms of the Old Testament kingdom of God. Accordingly, the going of the nations to the mountain of the house of Jehovah is, as a matter of fact, the entrance of the heathen who have been brought to the faith into the kingdom of Christ. This commenced with the spread of the gospel among the Gentiles, and has been continued through all the ages of the Christian church. But however many nations have hitherto entered into the Christian church, the time has not yet come for them to be so entirely pervaded with the spirit of Christ, as to allow their disputes to be settled by the Lord as their King, or to renounce war, and live in everlasting peace. Even for Israel the time has not yet come for the limping and exiled to be gathered together and made into a strong nation, however many individual Jews have already found salvation and peace within the bosom of the Christian church. The cessation of war and establishment of eternal peace can only take place after the destruction of all the ungodly powers on earth, at the return of Christ to judgment and for the perfecting of His kingdom. But even then, when, according to Rom. 11:25., the pleroma of the Gentiles shall have entered into the kingdom of God, and Israel as a nation (πᾶς Ἰσραήλ = יַעֲקֹב כֻּלּוֹ in Mic. 2:12) shall have turned to its Redeemer... The kingdom of glory will be set up on the new earth, in the Jerusalem which was shown to the holy seer on Patmos in the Spirit, on a great and lofty mountain (Rev. 21:10). In this holy city of God there will be no temple, ‘for the Lord, the Almighty God, and the Lamb, are the temple thereof’ (Rev. 21:22). The word of the Lord to the Samaritan woman concerning the time when men would neither worship God on this mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem, but worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:21-23), applies not only to the kingdom of God in its temporal development into the Christian church, but also to the time of the completion of the kingdom of God in glory.”

AFCf. Aquilla σκοτοωδης (“of darkness” cf. Peshitta) and Symmachus αποκρυφος (“of obscurity” cf. Targum).

AG“of Babylon” is not in the MT or other ancient versions, and N.H. does not include it either. It may be a repetition of the Greek word for “kingdom” (basileia) which sounds similar to the word for “Babylon”.

AHWaltke considered this to be a “disjunctive” vav, but it flows too seamlessly from the previous verse, especially with the first object being a pronoun which has its referent back in v.7. The word “you” is masculine and singular in Hebrew, matching the next three words (“tower,” “flock,” and “ofel”) which are all masculine and singular.

AIThe Hebrew here “Migdol-Edar” is the same as the name of a place near Jerusalem in Genesis 35:21, so Mishnah, BDB, Henry, and Westminster morphology interpreted this phrase in Micah accordingly.
Edar appears by itself with the same spelling in Genesis 32:16 (where it is translated “herd/drove”) and Job 24:2 and Jer. 13:17 (where it is translated “flock”), the latter of which refers specifically to the exiled Jews (and in 30 other verses with other spellings, including Micah 2:12). Waltke considered eder a “genitive of advantage, that is, the flock is the recipient of the advantages offered by the migdal ‘tower.’”
Hebrew cantillation and parsing on Open Scriptures indicates that there should be a comma here and that the following word is in construct form, resulting in two sets of three Hebrew words in synonymous parallel structure, giving two names to the addressee. Targums, KJV, NASB, NIV, and ESV followed that structure. Westminster morphology, however, indicates that the next word is not in construct form, making it the end of a 4-word construct chain, followed by the 2-word construct chain, “daughter of Zion.” This is the structure followed by the LXX, Peshitta, and Vulgate. All those ancient versions (plus Aquila and Symmachus), however, read as though there were an extra letter in this word (ערפל – “dark clouds.”), and the only DSS with enough visible letters to distinguish the word is the Hahal Hever, which supports the LXX with “darkness,” so this is either the original or a very early variant. “Hill” (which is the meaning of this word in the MT) would make a nice parallel to “tower,” however, which may have influenced the translators of the standard English versions. The Geneva/KJV/NIV translation “stronghold” stretches the meaning of this word beyond reason. Calvin commented that the Hebrew word means “obscure,” but interpreted it as a prominent place to which God’s people historically gathered, and Adam Clarke and Owen of Thrussington agreed.
Keil related it to Isa. 32:14, “where hill and watch-tower (‛ōphel vâbhachan) are mentioned in parallelism with the palace ('armōn)... From this it is obvious that ‛ōphel was a place either at the side or at the top of Zion. If we compare with this 2 Chr. 27:3 and 33:14, according to which Jotham ‘built much against the wall of the Ophel’ (hâ‛ōphel), and Manasseh ‘encircled the Ophel with a wall, and made it very high,’ Ophel must have been a hill, possibly a bastion, on the south-eastern border of Zion.” Keil’s English editor added, “The opinion that Ophel is the whole of the southern steep rocky promontory of Moriah, from the southern end of the temple ground to its extreme point (Robinson, Schultz, Williams), viz., the Ophla or Ophlas of Josephus, as Arnold (Herzog's Cycl.) and Winer (Bibl. R.W.) suppose, would be in perfect harmony with this.” Keil reasoned backward from his conclusions on the Ophel to assert (perhaps with more confidence than is warranted) that that the “tower of the flock… can only be... the tower of the Davidic palace, or royal castle upon Zion” citing Neh. 3:25-26, Jer. 32:2, Cant. 4:4 and 1 Chron. 12:1 in support. Waltke generally agreed: “‘Ophel can only designate the city of David… ʿōpel may mean a geological swelling in general or a hill that served as a stronghold, or it may denote specifically the original Jebusite hill… This ancient proper name for the original city of David functions as a byword that evokes the strength of David’s ancient kingdom and stands in parallel with ‘tower.’ all... the ancient translators [were]... confounded.” Waltke does, however, walk it back somewhat in his exegesis where he admits that this is also speaking of Jerusalem’s “eternal fruition” in a “kingdom that will endure forever.”

AJWith the exception of Psalm 9:15, all 22 other instances of this phrase “daughter of Zion” in the HOT occur during the late monarchy: 2 Ki. 19:21; Isa. 1:8; 10:32; 16:1; 37:22; 52:2; Jer. 4:31; 6:2, 23; Lam. 2:1, 4, 8, 10, 13, 18; 4:22; Mic. 4:8, 10, 13; Zeph. 3:14; Zech. 2:14; 9:9.
Concerning the next word, the Peshitta translated it as “time” and Luther interpreted it as “ornament,” (both of which are homonyms in Hebrew) but Keil corrected it to the preposition “upon/to” – which was also the interpretation of the Vulgate, LXX, MT, Targums, and English translations.

AKFollowing the famous Jewish commentators like Rashi, Calvin commented, “There is indeed no doubt, but that by ‘the former kingdom’ he understands its most flourishing condition, recorded in Scripture, under David and Solomon.” But only a couple of pages previously, he made much of God Himself being king and it being the heavenly kingdom, so this seems inconsistent. Yet, Keil also interpreted it of “the splendid rule of David and Solomon…. presuppos[ing] that the sovereignty has departed from Zion…” And so did Waltke: “riʾšôn, which means ‘former’ in time, and refers to Jerusalem’s zenith of extended authoritative rule under David and Solomon…” I would point out that this word is much more-frequently translated “chief/first” and that Gilby and the ancient versions translated this as “first,” pointing not to David but to the LORD’s kingship before David.
Cf. Isa. 1:25-27 “And I will turn my hand upon you and I will smelt away your dross like the pure, and I will run off all your alloy. And I will cause to turn your judges like the first, and your counselors like the beginning [כְּבַתְּחִלָּ֑ה]. Then afterwards, it will be called for you the righteous city - faithful town. Zion will be ransomed by justice, and the one who turns, by righteousness.” (NAW)

ALThe ESV translated this preposition “for,” as if the kingdom were merely “for the benefit of” those in Jerusalem (despite the fact that this very passage has mentioned benefit to “all” the nations), and Waltke translated it as a possessive, as though the kingdom would “belong to” those in Jerusalem (rather than to God their king). The majority which translated it “to” is to be preferred in this case, because of its relationship to the two verbs and and because of its parallel to the previous preposition: “to [עד] you will come… will come to [-ל] the daughter of Jerusalem.”