What Does Micah 5:4 Mean?
And he will stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the rising of the nature of the LORD his God. And they will settle, for now he will grow great to the edges of the earth.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide: for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.THE KEY
The verb translated “feed” is the verb for shepherding, so this ruler’s greatness appears in the care that enables the people to abide.
THE MEANING
Your place among the people who abide rests in a shepherd who draws strength from the LORD and acts in the majesty of the LORD’s nature. His care reaches to the ends of the earth; no border confines its reach.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that your life must be held together by your own strength: the verse locates abiding in the shepherd’s care, grounded in the LORD’s strength.
THE ROOT
וְרָעָה
wə-rāʿâ
GROWS FROM
רעה
to tend as a shepherd, or to pasture
The word rendered “feed” is the same verb used for shepherding: tending the flock is one act of provision and care. The verse links that care to the LORD’s strength, and the people’s abiding follows from it.
ALSO GROWS
rōʿeh: shepherd, one who tends a flock
רֹעֶה
This form makes explicit that the one who “feeds” the people is acting as their shepherd.
mirʿeh: pasture, grazing place
מִרְעֶה
The pasture is the place this tending provides: the shepherd’s work makes room for the flock to remain and be fed.
THE PATTERN
The shepherd’s care turns strength into provision and abiding for the flock.
A Psalm of David. The LORD is my shepherd; I do not come up short.He feeds his flock like a shepherd, gathers the lambs in his arm, carries them against his chest, and gently leads the ones who nurse.I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his living soul for the sheep.THE THREAD
He feeds his flock like a shepherd, gathers the lambs in his arm, carries them against his chest, and gently leads the ones who nurse.Micah’s “feed” is וְרָעָה (wə-rāʿâ), from the same root as Isaiah’s “feed” and “shepherd.” Isaiah makes that tending visible as gathering, carrying, and gently leading; Micah’s “they shall abide” is the fruit of such sustaining care.
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