Micah 4:3-7

4:3 He will arbitrate ¹  between many peoples

and settle disputes between many ²  distant nations. ³ 

They will beat their swords into plowshares, ⁴ 

and their spears into pruning hooks. ⁵ 

Nations will not use weapons ⁶  against other nations,

and they will no longer train for war.

4:4 Each will sit under his own grapevine

or under his own fig tree without any fear. ⁷ 

The Lord who commands armies has decreed it. ⁸ 

4:5 Though all the nations follow their respective gods, ⁹ 

we will follow ¹⁰  the Lord our God forever.

Restoration Will Follow Crisis

4:6 “In that day,” says the Lord, “I will gather the lame,

and assemble the outcasts whom I injured. ¹¹ 

4:7 I will transform the lame into the nucleus of a new nation, ¹² 

and those far off ¹³  into a mighty nation.

The Lord will reign over them on Mount Zion,

from that day forward and forevermore.” ¹⁴ 

[4:3]  ¹ tn Or “judge.”

[4:3]  ² tn Or “mighty” (NASB); KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV “strong”; TEV “among the great powers.”

[4:3]  ³ tn Heb “[for many nations] to a distance.”

[4:3]  ⁴ sn Instead of referring to the large plow as a whole, the plowshare is simply the metal tip which actually breaks the earth and cuts the furrow.

[4:3]  ⁵ sn This implement was used to prune the vines, i.e., to cut off extra leaves and young shoots (M. Klingbeil, NIDOTTE 1:1117-18). It was a short knife with a curved hook at the end sharpened on the inside like a sickle.

[4:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “take up the sword.”

[4:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “and there will be no one making [him] afraid.”

[4:4]  ⁸ tn Heb “for the mouth of the Lord of Hosts has spoken.”

[4:5]  ¹³ tn Heb “walk each in the name of his god.” The term “name” here has the idea of “authority.” To “walk in the name” of a god is to recognize the god’s authority as binding over one’s life.

[4:5]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “walk in the name of.”

[4:6]  ¹⁹ sn The exiles of the nation are compared to lame and injured sheep.

[4:7]  ²⁵ tn Heb “make the lame into a remnant.”

[4:7]  ²⁶ tn The precise meaning of this difficult form is uncertain. The present translation assumes the form is a Niphal participle of an otherwise unattested denominative verb הָלָא (hala’, “to be far off”; see BDB 229 s.v.), but attractive emendations include הַנַּחֲלָה (hannakhalah, “the sick one[s]”) from חָלָה (khalah) and הַנִּלְאָה (hannil’ah, “the weary one[s]”) from לָאָה (la’ah).

[4:7]  ²⁷ tn Heb “from now until forever.”