Micah 5:3 (WEB)

Passage

Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel.

Nearby Context

Micah 5:1 Now you shall gather yourself in troops, daughter of troops. He has laid siege against us. They will strike the judge of Israel with a rod on the cheek.

Micah 5:2 But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, being small among the clans of Judah, out of you one will come out to me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings out are from of old, from ancient times.

Micah 5:3 Therefore he will abandon them until the time that she who is in labor gives birth. Then the rest of his brothers will return to the children of Israel.

Micah 5:4 He shall stand, and shall shepherd in the strength of Yahweh, in the majesty of the name of Yahweh his God: and they will live, for then he will be great to the ends of the earth.

Micah 5:5 He will be our peace when Assyria invades our land, and when he marches through our fortresses, then we will raise against him seven shepherds, and eight leaders of men.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "therefore", "abandon", "until", "time", "labor", "gives", "birth", and "rest". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "therefore" and "abandon", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "But you Bethlehem Ephrathah being small among..." into verse 4's "He shall stand and shall shepherd in...", so "therefore" and "abandon" 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 "therefore" and "abandon" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.