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10 Twist and strain,[a] Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor!
For you will leave the city
and live in the open field.
You will go to Babylon,
but there you will be rescued.
There the Lord will deliver[b] you
from the power[c] of your enemies.
11 Many nations have now assembled against you.
They say, “Jerusalem must be desecrated,[d]
so we can gloat over Zion!”[e]
12 But they do not know what the Lord is planning;
they do not understand his strategy.
He has gathered them like stalks of grain to be threshed[f] at the threshing floor.

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Footnotes

  1. Micah 4:10 tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”
  2. Micah 4:10 tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).
  3. Micah 4:10 tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.
  4. Micah 4:11 tn Heb “let her be desecrated.” The referent (Jerusalem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  5. Micah 4:11 tn Heb “and let our eye look upon Zion.” This is a Hebrew idiom for a typically smug or condescending look by someone in a superior position.
  6. Micah 4:12 tn The words “to be threshed” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied in the translation to make it clear that the Lord is planning to enable “Daughter Zion” to “thresh” her enemies.

10 Writhe in agony, Daughter Zion,
    like a woman in labor,
for now you must leave the city
    to camp in the open field.
You will go to Babylon;(A)
    there you will be rescued.
There the Lord will redeem(B) you
    out of the hand of your enemies.

11 But now many nations
    are gathered against you.
They say, “Let her be defiled,
    let our eyes gloat(C) over Zion!”
12 But they do not know
    the thoughts of the Lord;
they do not understand his plan,(D)
    that he has gathered them like sheaves to the threshing floor.

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