Mikha 4:10-11

4:10 Twist and strain, ¹  Daughter Zion, as if you were in labor!

For you will leave the city

and live in the open field.

You will go to Babylon,

but there you will be rescued.

There the Lord will deliver ²  you

from the power ³  of your enemies.

4:11 Many nations have now assembled against you.

They say, “Jerusalem must be desecrated, ⁴ 

so we can gloat over Zion!” ⁵ 

[4:10]  ¹ tn Or perhaps “scream”; NRSV, TEV, NLT “groan.”

[4:10]  ² tn Or “redeem” (KJV, NASB, NIV, NRSV, NLT).

[4:10]  ³ tn Heb “hand.” The Hebrew idiom is a metonymy for power or control.

[4:11]  ⁴ tn Heb “let her be desecrated.” the referent (Jerusalem) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[4:11]  ⁵ tn Heb “and let our eye look upon Zion.”