Mikha 2:12

The Lord Will Restore His People

2:12 I will certainly gather all of you, O Jacob,

I will certainly assemble those Israelites who remain. ¹ 

I will bring them together like sheep in a fold, ² 

like a flock in the middle of a pasture; ³ 

they will be so numerous that they will make a lot of noise. ⁴ 

Mazmur 38:17

38:17 For I am about to stumble,

and I am in constant pain. ⁵ 

Yesaya 35:3-6

35:3 Strengthen the hands that have gone limp,

steady the knees that shake! ⁶ 

35:4 Tell those who panic, ⁷ 

“Be strong! Do not fear!

Look, your God comes to avenge!

With divine retribution he comes to deliver you.” ⁸ 

35:5 Then blind eyes will open,

deaf ears will hear.

35:6 Then the lame will leap like a deer,

the mute tongue will shout for joy;

for water will flow ⁹  in the desert,

streams in the wilderness. ¹⁰ 

Yeremia 31:8

31:8 Then I will reply, ¹¹  ‘I will bring them back from the land of the north.

I will gather them in from the distant parts of the earth.

Blind and lame people will come with them,

so will pregnant women and women about to give birth.

A vast throng of people will come back here.

Yehezkiel 34:13-17

34:13 I will bring them out from among the peoples and gather them from foreign countries; I will bring them to their own land. I will feed them on the mountains of Israel, by the streams and all the inhabited places of the land. 34:14 In a good pasture I will feed them; the mountain heights of Israel will be their pasture. There they will lie down in a lush ¹²  pasture, and they will feed on rich grass on the mountains of Israel. 34:15 I myself will feed my sheep and I myself will make them lie down, declares the sovereign Lord. 34:16 I will seek the lost and bring back the strays; I will bandage the injured and strengthen the sick, but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them – with judgment!

34:17 “‘As for you, my sheep, this is what the sovereign Lord says: Look, I am about to judge between one sheep and another, between rams and goats.

Zefanya 3:19

3:19 Look, at that time I will deal with those who mistreated you.

I will rescue the lame sheep ¹³ 

and gather together the scattered sheep.

I will take away their humiliation

and make the whole earth admire and respect them. ¹⁴ 

Ibrani 12:12-13

12:12 Therefore, strengthen ¹⁵  your listless hands and your weak knees, ¹⁶  12:13 and make straight paths for your feet, ¹⁷  so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but be healed.

[2:12]  ¹ tn Heb “the remnant of Israel.”

[2:12]  ² tc The MT reads בָּצְרָה (batsrah, “Bozrah”) but the form should be emended to בַּצִּרָה (batsirah, “into the fold”). See D. R. Hillers, Micah (Hermeneia), 38.

[2:12]  ³ tc The MT reads “its pasture,” but the final vav (ו) belongs with the following verb. See GKC 413 §127.i.

[2:12]  ⁴ tn Heb “and they will be noisy [or perhaps, “excited”] from men.” The subject of the third feminine plural verb תְּהִימֶנָה (tÿhimenah, “they will be noisy”) is probably the feminine singular צֹאן (tso’n, “flock”). (For another example of this collective singular noun with a feminine plural verb, see Gen 30:38.) In the construction מֵאָדָם (me’adam, “from men”) the preposition is probably causal. L. C. Allen translates “bleating in fear of men” (Joel, Obadiah, Jonah, and Micah [NICOT], 300), but it is possible to take the causal sense as “because of the large quantity of men.” In this case the sheep metaphor and the underlying reality are mixed.

[38:17]  ⁵ tn Heb “and my pain [is] before me continually.”

[35:3]  ⁶ tn Heb “staggering knees”; KJV, ASV, NRSV “feeble knees”; NIV “knees that give way.”

[35:4]  ⁷ tn Heb “Say to the hasty of heart,” i.e., those whose hearts beat quickly from fear.

[35:4]  ⁸ tn The jussive form וְיֹשַׁעֲכֶם (vÿyosha’akhem), which is subordinated to the preceding imperfect with vav conjunctive, indicates purpose.

[35:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “burst forth” (so NAB); KJV “break out.”

[35:6]  ¹⁰ tn Or “Arabah” (NASB); KJV, NIV, NRSV, NLT “desert.”

[31:8]  ¹¹ tn The words “And I will reply” are not in the text but the words vv. 8-9 appear to be the answer to the petition at the end of v. 7. These words are supplied in the translation for clarity.

[34:14]  ¹² tn Heb “good.”

[3:19]  ¹³ tn The word “sheep” is supplied for clarification. As in Mic 4:6-7, the exiles are here pictured as injured and scattered sheep whom the divine shepherd rescues from danger.

[3:19]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “I will make them into praise and a name, in all the earth, their shame.” The present translation assumes that “their shame” specifies “them” and that “name” stands here for a good reputation.

[12:12]  ¹⁵ tn Or “straighten.”

[12:12]  ¹⁶ sn A quotation from Isa 35:3. Strengthen your listless hands and your weak knees refers to the readers’ need for renewed resolve and fresh strength in their struggles (cf. Heb 10:36-39; 12:1-3).

[12:13]  ¹⁷ sn A quotation from Prov 4:26. The phrase make straight paths for your feet is figurative for “stay on God’s paths.”