Verse Lens · Concise explanation

Micah 5:9 Explained in Context

Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.

Selected verse

Verse 9. Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.

King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions

Quick Meaning

This verse closes the remnant unit with lifted hand over adversaries and enemies cut off.

Read It With

  • Micah 5:7-9

Read Micah 5:9 with 5:7-9. This verse closes the remnant unit with lifted hand over adversaries and enemies cut off. The complete unit establishes this movement: The remnant is pictured first as life-giving dew independent of human control and then as an unstoppable lion; the final book preserves both benefit and threat without allowing the lion image to cancel the peace vision or commission violence.

Why This Verse Appears Here

The paired images explore the remnant's effect among nations while exposing tension in the book's attitudes toward those nations. Within that movement, this verse closes the remnant unit with lifted hand over adversaries and enemies cut off.

Read Micah 5:7–9 together

Why these verses belong together: Dew and lion are parallel but tense metaphors for the remnant among many peoples.

Verse 7. And the remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass, that tarrieth not for man, nor waiteth for the sons of men.

Verse 8. And the remnant of Jacob shall be among the Gentiles in the midst of many people as a lion among the beasts of the forest, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep: who, if he go through, both treadeth down, and teareth in pieces, and none can deliver.

Verse 9. Thine hand shall be lifted up upon thine adversaries, and all thine enemies shall be cut off.

Phrase-by-Phrase Explanation

“adversaries”

In plain language: those opposing the restored community within the poem

closes the remnant unit with lifted hand over adversaries and enemies cut off. Victory language belongs to the oracle's restoration horizon and does not name contemporary targets.

Why it matters: The wording identifies this verse's distinct contribution to the complete unit.

How certain? strong

What Remains True

Victory language belongs to the oracle's restoration horizon and does not name contemporary targets.

How It Can Shape Life

  • Resist real harm lawfully without assigning biblical enemy status to opponents.

Continue in Context

The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.

Read Micah 5:7-9 — The Remnant Is Dew and Lion among the Peoples
Sources used for this Verse Lens

How certain is this explanation? strong

These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.

Biblical text

King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006

eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society

USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.

Supports: Exact reader-facing Scripture wording, paragraph markers, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage.

Exact location: Micah 5:7-9, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus

Open source ↗

hebrew text and morphology

Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Micah

Open Scriptures

Open Scriptures, release 2.2

Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, clause relationships, wordplays, names, and the base text behind translation discussion.

Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Mic.xml, 5:7-9

Open source ↗

translation and translator notes

NET Bible: Micah with translators' notes

Biblical Studies Press

Biblical Studies Press, 2006

Supports: Verse-level translation, syntax, textual, literary, historical, and uncertainty notes.

Exact location: NET Bible Micah PDF, printed pp. 1747-1748, translation and notes on 5:7-9

Open source ↗
Open the complete thought-unit research record
Open a verse without taking it out of context.

Try Micah 6:8, Mic 6:8, or Mi 6:8.

Choose book, chapter, and verse