Micah 5:2 (GNV)

Passage

And thou Beth-leem Ephrathah art litle to bee among the thousandes of Iudah, yet out of thee shall he come forth vnto me, that shalbe the ruler in Israel: whose goings forth haue bene from the beginning and from euerlasting.

Nearby Context

Micah 5:1 Nowe assemble thy garisons, O daughter of garisons: he hath layed siege against vs: they shall smite the iudge of Israel with a rod vpon the cheeke.

Micah 5:2 And thou Beth-leem Ephrathah art litle to bee among the thousandes of Iudah, yet out of thee shall he come forth vnto me, that shalbe the ruler in Israel: whose goings forth haue bene from the beginning and from euerlasting.

Micah 5:3 Therefore will he giue them vp, vntill the time that shee which shall beare, shall trauaile: then the remnant of their brethren shall returne vnto the children of Israel.

Micah 5:4 And he shall stand, and feed in the strength of the Lord, and in the maiestie of the Name of the Lord his God, and they shall dwel still: for now shall he be magnified vnto the ends of the world.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "thou", "beth-leem", "ephrathah", "litle", "thousandes", "iudah", "thee", and "shall". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "thou" and "beth-leem", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 1's "Nowe assemble thy garisons O daughter of..." into verse 3's "Therefore will he giue them vp vntill...", so "thou" and "beth-leem" belong inside that flow. In Micah context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "thou" and "beth-leem" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.