Micah 5:9
in Micah 5Your hand will be lifted over your foes, and all your enemies will be cut off.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Let thy hand be lifted up above thine adversaries, and let all thine enemies be cut off.
KJV
Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.
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This verse in Micah 5
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Thine hand shall be lifted up--In Isa 26:11 it is Jehovah's hand that is lifted up; here Israel's as Mic 5:8 implies, just as "Zion" is addressed and directed to "beat in pieces many people" (Mic 4:13; compare Isa 54:15, 17).
This site's exposition
Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries
on Micah 5:9-11
Victory over every adversary opens directly into a catalog of purging, the Lord promising in that day to cut off the horses out of Israel's own midst and destroy her chariots, stripping away the very military hardware a nation trusts in place of God. The cities and strongholds follow the horses and chariots, political security built on walls and garrisons cut down along with the mounted force. The bench reads triumph and purging as one act rather than two, the Lord winning the battle for Israel precisely by removing what Israel had been tempted to win it with herself.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
(Verse 7 onwards) And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many peoples, like dew from the Lord, like showers on the grass, which do not wait for man or delay for the sons of men.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
It was the sin of Israel that they furnished themselves extravagantly with horses and chariots, and were soothsayers and idolaters; see Isa. ii. But here it is promised that they shall not regard them any more. The tranquillity of the kingdom of Christ is intended in that promise, which explains this, Zech. ix.
The Abasement and Distress of Zion; Birth of the Messiah Predicted; 1 Now gather thyself in troops, O daughter of troops: he hath laid siege against us: they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:82%@v1-3
Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
All thine enemies shall be cut off - The Assyrians, who had destroyed Israel; and the Babylonians, who had ruined Judah.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Their hand shall be lifted up upon their adversaries - The might of the Church is the Might of Christ in her, and the glory of the Church is His from whom it comes and to whom it returns. It is all one, whether this be said to Christ or to the “remnant of Jacob, that is, His Church. Her “enemies” are His, and her’s only because they are His, and hate her as belonging to Him.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
And I will destroy your cities —And you will no longer need fortified cities.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 6 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| תָּרֹ֥ם | tarom | may it be lifted up | H7311 → | |
| יָדְךָ֖ | yadekha | hand your | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | above | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| צָרֶ֑יךָ | tzareikha | opponents your | H6862 → | |
| וְכָל־ | vekhol | and all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| אֹיְבֶ֖יךָ | ʾoyeveikha | enemies your | H341 → | 282 times |
| יִכָּרֵֽתוּ׃ פ | yikaretu | may they be cut off | H3772 → | 288 times |
תָּרֹ֥םmay it be lifted up
taromH7311 →
יָדְךָ֖hand your
yadekhaH3027 →1618 times
עַל־above
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
צָרֶ֑יךָopponents your
tzareikhaH6862 →
וְכָל־and all
vekholH3605 →5413 times
אֹיְבֶ֖יךָenemies your
ʾoyeveikhaH341 →282 times
יִכָּרֵֽתוּ׃ פmay they be cut off
yikaretuH3772 →288 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
Psalms 21:8Your hand will apprehend all Your enemies; Your right hand will seize those who hate You.
it leads to
- Psalms 110:1–2
The LORD said to my Lord: “Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.”
- 1 Corinthians 15:25
For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.
- Psalms 72:9
May the nomads bow before him, and his enemies lick the dust.
- Luke 19:27
And these enemies of mine who were unwilling for me to rule over them, bring them here and slay them in front of me.’”
- Revelation 19:15
And from His mouth proceeds a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath…
- Psalms 110:1–2
Through
Psalms 10:12Arise, O LORD! Lift up Your hand, O God! Do not forget the helpless.
it leads to
- Psalms 94:2
Rise up, O Judge of the earth; render a reward to the proud.
- Psalms 9:12
For the Avenger of bloodshed remembers; He does not ignore the cry of the afflicted.
- Psalms 94:2
Through
Isaiah 11:14They will swoop down on the slopes of the Philistines to the west; together they will plunder the sons of the east. They will lay their hands on Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites…
it leads to
- Joel 3:19
Egypt will become desolate, and Edom a desert wasteland, because of the violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.
- Joel 3:19
Where this verse is studied
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); 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 Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.