What Does Micah 5:2 Mean in the King James?
But thou, Beth-lehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
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
One Hebrew root ties the ruler’s emergence from little Bethlehem to his far-reaching origins: both are forms of going out.
THE MEANING
The place counted as too small to matter can still be the source from which lasting rule comes forth; smallness does not set the ceiling on what can emerge through you. Bethlehem (בֵּית לֶחֶם, Bet-leḥem, “house of bread”) is called little among Judah’s clans, while Ephratah (אֶפְרָתָה, Efrātāh, a name associated with fruitfulness) holds a sense of abundance within that small place. The ruler’s origins reach beyond the span you can measure, holding his emergence and the depths of the ages together.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that significance must come from a place already counted great is undone here: the ruler comes from a town the verse calls little.
THE ROOT
יֵצֵא
yēṣēʾ
GROWS FROM
יצא
y-ts-ʾ
To go out or emerge; in its derived noun forms, a going forth or origin.
“come forth / goings forth” in this verse is yēṣēʾ. The verb יֵצֵא (yetse, “he shall come forth”) and the noun וּמוֹצָאֹתָיו (umotsa’otav, “his goings forth”) share the root יצא (yatsa, “to go out”). The repeated seed holds two horizons in one image: the ruler emerges from Bethlehem, while his origins reach back through the ages.
ALSO GROWS
mōṣāʾ: A going out, outlet, or source.
מוֹצָא
Micah’s וּמוֹצָאֹתָיו (umotsa’otav, “his goings forth”) is a plural form from this same root, naming the ruler’s origins as goings out.
yōṣēʾ: Going out, emerging, or flowing out.
יֹצֵא
Genesis 2:10 uses this form for the river flowing out of Eden; here, the same root lets the ruler’s emergence carry the image of a source going forth.
THE PATTERN
Scripture shows enduring life and rule emerging from a source too small to command attention.
And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots:It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and cast into his garden; and it grew, and waxed a great tree; and the fowls of the air lodged in the branches of it.THE THREAD
And a river went out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence it was parted, and became into four heads.The river that waters Eden is described with the same root יצא (yatsa, “to go out”) used here for the ruler’s coming forth. Micah repeats that root for his “goings forth,” so his origin reads as a source issuing outward as well as a beginning beyond the ages.
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