Micah 4:9
in Micah 4Why do you now cry aloud? Is there no king among you? Has your counselor perished so that anguish grips you like a woman in labor?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Now why dost thou cry out aloud? Is there no king in thee, is thy counsellor perished, that pangs have taken hold of thee as of a woman in travail?
KJV
Now why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.
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This verse in Micah 4
Commentary
9 notes on this verse(Verse 8, 9.) And you, tower of the flock, cloudy daughter of Zion, there will come to you the first power, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. Now why are you contracted with sorrow? Is there no king for you, or has your counselor perished? For pain has seized you like a woman in labor. LXX: And you, tower of the flock, darkened daughter of Zion, there will come to you the first principality, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem from Babylon. And now, why have you known evil?
This site's exposition
is there no king in thee
on Micah 4:9-10
The rhetorical questions, why criest thou, is there no king in thee, press the coming crisis: pangs seize the city like a woman in labor, and she is told to go out of the city and even go to Babylon, where she will at last be delivered from her enemies. Micah wrote generations before Babylon replaced Assyria as the threat to Judah, and the older commentators hold this a genuine prediction reaching past the visible danger of his own day to name the actual exile and the actual place of return; critical scholars who date the verse later read it instead as a detail added after the event, and the bench states both positions without settling the composition question. Either way the text ties the deliverance to the very place of the judgment, redemption following the people into the land of their captivity.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Now - Now I have promised such great things to you. No king - Thou hast lost thy king Zedekiah, but thy God, thy king is with thee. Thy counsellor - Hast thou none among thy wise counsellors left?
Now why dost thou cry out aloud?....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Now - The prophet places himself in the midst of their deepest sorrows, and out of them he promises comfort. “Why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no King in thee? is thy Counsellor perished?” . Is then all lost, because thou hast no visible king, none to counsel thee or consult for thee? . Very remarkably he speaks of their “King and Counsellor” as one, as if to say, “When all beside is gone, there is One who abides. Though thou be a captive, God will not forsake thee.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Addressed to the daughter of Zion, in her consternation at the approach of the Chaldeans. is there no king in thee?--asked tauntingly. There is a king in her; but it is the same as if there were none, so helpless to devise means of escape are he and his counsellors [MAURER].
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3066: “The Everlasting Counselor” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
THIS question is addressed to the Church of God, for in the context it is written, "And you, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto you shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. Now why do you cry out aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your Counselor perished? For pangs have taken you as a woman in travail." The poor Church of God had lost its way—it was doubting with regard to its direction.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Charles Spurgeon1834–1892
The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3066: “The Everlasting Counselor” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) · Written before 1892.
proposed
THIS question is addressed to the Church of God, for in the context it is written, "And you, O tower of the flock, the stronghold of the daughter of Zion, unto you shall it come, even the first dominion; the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. Now why do you cry out aloud? Is there no king in you? Has your Counselor perished? For pangs have taken you as a woman in travail." The poor Church of God had lost its way—it was doubting with regard to its direction. It knew not where to turn—to the right hand or to the left. In an agony of deep distraction, it bowed its head in fell dismay and thought that its King had disappeared and its Counselor perished. Forth comes the Prophet Micah, full of the Spirit, and addresses this question to the tried children of God, "Has your Counselor perished?" We have before us a question implying three things. First, aDoctrine, namely, that our Counselor has not perished. Secondly, a reproof, for we sometimes act as if our Counselor had perished. And, thirdly, an encouragement for, however we may be situated and whatever may have perished—our Counselor has not perished. I. First, then, here is A QUESTION IMPLYING A DOCTRINE, namely, the Doctrine that the Church of God has a Counselor and that that Counselor has not perished. In olden times, the Lord's people, whenever they were in a difficulty, could always find direction. Any man who doubted whether he should build his house, or whether he should go to war, or whether in any matter of his business he should do this or that, could at once receive instruction and advice by referring to the high priest who wore the ephod. And, being moved by the Spirit, the high priest spoke with his hand on the Urim and Thummim and gave an authoritative answer.
Is there no King in thee? - None. And why? Because thou hast rejected Jehovah thy king. Is thy counsellor perished? - No: but thou hast rejected the words and advices of the prophets. Pangs have taken thee - He is speaking of the desolations that should take place when the Chaldeans should come against the city; and hence he says, “Thou shalt go to Babylon;” ye shall be cast out of your own land, and sent slaves to a foreign country, He represents the people under the notion of a woman in travail.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַתָּ֕ה | ʾatah | now | H6258 → | 433 times |
| לָ֥מָּה | lamah | <to> why? | H4100 → | 752 times |
| תָרִ֖יעִי | tarii | do you shout | H7321 → | |
| רֵ֑עַ | rea' | shouting | H7452 → | |
| הֲמֶ֣לֶךְ | hamelekh | ¿ a king | H4428 → | 2525 times |
| אֵֽין־ | ʾein- | [is] there not | H369 → | 789 times |
| בָּ֗ךְ | bakh | in you | ||
| אִֽם־ | ʾim- | or? | H518 → | 1069 times |
| יוֹעֲצֵךְ֙ | yoatzekh | counselor your | H3289 → | |
| אָבָ֔ד | ʾavad | has he perished | H6 → | 184 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| הֶחֱזִיקֵ֥ךְ | hechezikekh | it has taken hold of you | H2388 → | |
| חִ֖יל | chil | anguish | H2427 → | |
| כַּיּוֹלֵדָֽה׃ | kaiyoledah | like <the> [woman] giving birth | H3205 → | 496 times |
עַתָּ֕הnow
ʾatahH6258 →433 times
לָ֥מָּה<to> why?
lamahH4100 →752 times
תָרִ֖יעִיdo you shout
tariiH7321 →
רֵ֑עַshouting
rea'H7452 →
הֲמֶ֣לֶךְ¿ a king
hamelekhH4428 →2525 times
אֵֽין־[is] there not
ʾein-H369 →789 times
בָּ֗ךְin you
bakh
אִֽם־or?
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
יוֹעֲצֵךְ֙counselor your
yoatzekhH3289 →
אָבָ֔דhas he perished
ʾavadH6 →184 times
כִּֽי־that
ki-H3588 →4482 times
הֶחֱזִיקֵ֥ךְit has taken hold of you
hechezikekhH2388 →
חִ֖ילanguish
chilH2427 →
כַּיּוֹלֵדָֽה׃like <the> [woman] giving birth
kaiyoledahH3205 →496 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Jeremiah 22:23O inhabitant of Lebanon, nestled in the cedars, how you will groan when pangs of anguish come upon you, agony like a woman in labor.”
it leads to
- Jeremiah 6:24
We have heard the report; our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor.
- Jeremiah 6:24
Through
Jeremiah 8:19Listen to the cry of the daughter of my people from a land far away: “Is the LORD no longer in Zion? Is her King no longer there?” “Why have they provoked Me to…
it leads to
- Isaiah 39:3
Then the prophet Isaiah went to King Hezekiah and asked, “Where did those men come from, and what did they say to you?” “They came to me from a distant land,” Hezekiah replied, “from…
- Isaiah 39:3
Through
Isaiah 26:17As a woman with child about to give birth writhes and cries out in pain, so were we in Your presence, O LORD.
it leads to
- Isaiah 13:8
Terror, pain, and anguish will seize them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look at one another, their faces flushed with fear.
- John 16:21
A woman has pain in childbirth because her time has come; but when she brings forth her child, she forgets her anguish because of her joy that a child has been born into the…
- Isaiah 21:3
Therefore my body is filled with anguish. Pain grips me, like the pains of a woman in labor. I am bewildered to hear, I am dismayed to see.
- Isaiah 13:8
Through
Lamentations 4:20The LORD’s anointed, the breath of our life, was captured in their pits. We had said of him, “Under his shadow we will live among the nations.”
it leads to
- Ezekiel 12:13
But I will spread My net over him, and he will be caught in My snare. I will bring him to Babylon, the land of the Chaldeans; yet he will not see it, and…
- Genesis 2:7
Then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed the breath of life into his nostrils, and the man became a living being.
- 2 Samuel 19:21
But Abishai son of Zeruiah said, “Shouldn’t Shimei be put to death for this, because he cursed the LORD’s anointed?”
- Ezekiel 12:13
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Micah
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3066: “The Everlasting Counselor” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jerome, Commentary on Micah; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.