Micah 4

1 Yahweh [says that] some day his temple will be on top of a mountain, and that mountain will be the most important [MET] one on the earth; it will be [as though it is] higher than all the hills, and huge groups of people from all over the world will come there [to worship].

In the last days, the mountain where the Lord's Temple stands will be recognized as the highest of all mountains, rising above other hills. Crowds of people from many places will travel to it.

2 [People from] many nations will say [to each other], “Let’s go to the mountain where Yahweh is, to the temple where we can worship the God whom Jacob [worshiped]. There God will teach us how he wants us to conduct our lives, and we will do what he wants us to do.” Zion [Hill] is the place where he will teach [people]; and [people will go] out from Jerusalem [to tell others] his messages.

Many nations will come and say, “Let's go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the Temple of the God of Jacob. There God will teach us his ways and we will follow his directions.” God's teachings will spread out from Zion, his word from Jerusalem.

3 Yahweh will settle disputes between many people, and he will [also] settle disputes between powerful nations that are far away. Then people will hammer their swords to cause them to become plow blades, and [hammer] their spears to cause them to become pruning knives. [Armies of] nations will no [longer] fight against [armies of other] nations, and they will no longer train [men how to fight] in wars.

The Lord will decide the cases of the nations, he will settle arguments between distant powerful nations. They will hammer their swords and turn them into plough blades, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations will not fight against each other anymore; they will no longer learn methods of warfare.

4 Everyone will sit [peacefully] under his own grapevines, and under his own fig trees; no one will cause them to be afraid. [That is what will surely happen] because the Commander of the armies of angels has said it.

Everyone will be able to sit under their own vine and their own fig tree, for there will be no one to make them afraid. I the Lord Almighty has spoken!

5 Many [HYP] [of the people of other] nations will worship [IDM] their own gods, but we will worship Yahweh our God always, forever.

Even though all the other nations follow their gods, we will follow the Lord our God forever and ever.

6 Yahweh says, “There will soon be a time when I will gather the people whom I have punished, who have been (exiled/forced to go to other countries), all those whom [I have caused to] suffer much.

On that day, declares the Lord, I will gather those who are lame, I will bring together those who have been scattered in exile, those whom I punished.

7 My people who did not die while they were exiled will become a strong nation [again]. Then [I], Yahweh, will be their king, and I will rule from Jerusalem forever.

I will make those who remain, crippled and driven far away, into a strong nation, and the Lord will rule them from Mount Zion forever and ever.

8 As for you people of Jerusalem [MET], you who [guard all of my people] like [MET] [a shepherd guards his sheep] from a tower, you [who live on] Zion [Hill], will have great power again. You people who live in Jerusalem will again rule like you did previously.

And as for you, Jerusalem, watchtower of the flock, your former royal rule and power will be returned to you: the kingdom will be given back to Jerusalem.

9 [So] why [RHQ] are you wailing now? Is it because you have no king? Have all your wise people died? You are groaning loudly like [SIM] a woman who is giving birth to a baby.

So why are you screaming aloud? Don't you have a king? Has the king who advises you died so that pain has gripped you like a woman in childbirth?

10 [Well], you people of Jerusalem should writhe and groan like [SIM] a woman who is having birth pains, because now you must leave this city, and [while you are traveling], you will set up tents in open fields [at night]; you will go to [live in] Babylon. [But while you are] there, [I], Yahweh, will rescue you; I will free you from the power/control [MTY] of your enemies.

Thrash around in agony like a woman giving birth, people of Zion—for you will be expelled from the city, forced to camp out in the open, and exiled to Babylon. But the Lord will bring you back, and rescue you from the power of your enemies.

11 Now [the armies of] many nations have gathered to attack you. They are saying, ‘Jerusalem must be destroyed! We want to see this city [when it becomes ruins]!’

Right now many enemies are gathered against you, saying, “Let us attack and violate her, so we can look with gloating over Zion!”

12 But they do not know what [I], Yahweh, think, and they do not understand what I plan: I will gather them [and punish them] like [SIM] [farmers] thresh grain on the ground.

But they don't know what the Lord is thinking, and don't understand what he is planning. He has brought them together like bundles of grain to the threshing floor.

13 So, you people of Jerusalem, rise up and punish [MET] [the nations who oppose you]. I will cause you [to be very strong], [as if] [MET] you had horns made of iron, [as if] [MET] you had hoofs made of bronze; and you will crush many nations. And [then you will take] from your enemies the valuable things that they have taken [from other countries], and you will dedicate those things to [me, the one who is] the Lord of all [the people on] the earth.”

People of Zion, get up and start threshing, for I will make for you iron horns and bronze hooves so you can break many nations into pieces. You will present their stolen plunder to the Lord, their wealth to the Lord of all the earth.