Micah 4:8-13

8And as for Jerusalem, it was a strong, safe place for Zion's people. It was like a tall building, from which a man can watch over his sheep. Then it will again be a place where a king rules with great authority.’

9You people in Jerusalem, you are crying aloud like people who have no king. You cry like people who have no wise leader. You have bad pains like a woman who is giving birth to a baby.

10People in Zion, you will have a lot of pain, like a woman who is giving birth to a baby. She rolls about and she screams with pain. Soon you will have to leave your city and you will have to live in the fields. You will have to go to Babylon, but there the Lord will save you. He will make you free again from the authority of your enemies.

11But now, at this time, many countries have come together to attack your city. They say: ‘We will destroy Jerusalem and we will enjoy ourselves. We want to see Zion's people in trouble.’

12But they do not know the Lord's thoughts. They do not understand how he will punish them. He will bring them together, as people bring bundles of wheat together at harvest time. He will punish them, as people thresh wheat to get the seeds out.

13‘People in Zion, get up and fight your enemies,’ God says to you. ‘Hit them like people thresh the wheat. I will make you very strong. Then you will be like dangerous animals with iron horns and metal feet. You will beat enemies from many countries, as men crush things into small pieces. The people from those countries became rich, because they did bad things. But you will bring their riches to me, because I am the Lord of all the earth.’