What Does Micah 4:2 Mean in the King James?
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.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew words for “teach” and “instruction” share a root: what goes out from Zion is the teaching that becomes a path.
THE MEANING
You are part of a movement toward God’s presence, where learning becomes a way you walk. The instruction that gathers people toward its source also goes out from Zion into the world. Here, teaching does not remain information; it takes shape in a shared path.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that divine instruction is only information held in one place: it teaches people into a walk, then goes outward from its source.
THE ROOT
וְהוֹרֵנוּ
wə-hōrēnû
GROWS FROM
ירה
to direct, teach, or point out
The Hebrew for “teach us” and the word translated “law” in this verse come from the same root. The instruction that goes forth from Zion is the very teaching the nations come to receive.
ALSO GROWS
torah: instruction
תּוֹרָה
This is the word translated “law” in the verse, showing that its instruction shares a root with “he will teach us.”
moreh: teacher or instructor
מוֹרֶה
This names one who directs or teaches, linking the instruction that goes out with the act of showing a way.
דְּרָכָיו
derakhav
GROWS FROM
דרך
to tread or step
“Ways” carries the image of a course made by walking. The verse’s teaching does not end in a description of God’s paths; it moves into the nations’ own steps.
ALSO GROWS
derek: way, road, or course
דֶּרֶךְ
The verse’s “ways” are routes to be traveled, not merely ideas to consider.
darakh: to tread or step
דָּרַךְ
The verb carries the bodily action beneath the noun: a way is a course someone treads.
דְּבַר
devar
GROWS FROM
דבר
to speak; in the noun, a word, matter, or affair
The “word of the LORD” comes from Jerusalem alongside the instruction from Zion. The Hebrew word can refer both to speech and to a matter or thing, giving the spoken word a connection to what takes shape in life.
ALSO GROWS
davar: word, matter, or affair
דָּבָר
The breadth of this noun joins what is spoken with the matter being spoken about.
dibber: to speak
דִּבֵּר
This verbal form makes clear that the word proceeding from Jerusalem is an act of speaking, not a detached label.
THE PATTERN
God’s instruction gathers people toward its source, becomes a way they can walk, and carries outward.
Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me.THE THREAD
Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths.Psalm 25:4 uses the same Hebrew root, ירה (yarah), for “teach” that appears in Micah’s “teach us” and “instruction.” Micah widens the personal request into a movement of many nations, as the teaching they seek goes out from Zion.
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