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King James Version

Micah 7:14

Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Bashan;   Carmel;   Intercession;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Forests;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Bashan;   Exodus;   Farming;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Flock;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Atonement;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Cattle;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Bashan;   Micah;   Pentateuch;   Rod;   Shepherd;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Micah, Book of;   Remnant;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Carmel;   Micah, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Eternity;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Carmel ;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Heritage;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Gilead;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Sceptre;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Rod;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Cattle;   Forest;   Micah (2);   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Carmel, Mount;   High Place;   Sheep;   Staff;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Shepherd your people with your staff,the flock that is your possession.They live alone in a woodlandsurrounded by pastures.Let them graze in Bashan and Gileadas in ancient times.
Hebrew Names Version
Shepherd your people with your staff, The flock of your heritage, Who dwell by themselves in a forest, In the midst of fertile pasture land, let them feed; In Bashan and Gil`ad, as in the days of old.
King James Version (1611)
Feede thy people with thy rod, the flocke of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feede in Bashan and Gilead, as in the dayes of old.
English Standard Version
Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them graze in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old.
New American Standard Bible
Shepherd Your people with Your scepter, The flock of Your possession Which lives by itself in the woodland, In the midst of a fruitful field. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead As in the days of old.
New Century Version
So shepherd your people with your stick; tend the flock of people who belong to you. That flock now lives alone in the forest in the middle of a garden land. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in days long ago.
Amplified Bible
Shepherd and rule Your people with Your scepter [of blessing], The flock of Your inheritance and Your possession Which dwells alone [separate and secure from attack] in the forest, In the midst of a garden land. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead As in the days of old [the days of Moses and Elijah].
Geneva Bible (1587)
Feed thy people with thy rod, the flocke of thine heritage (which dwell solitarie in the wood) as in the middes of Carmel: let them feede in Bashan and Gilead, as in olde time.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Shepherd Your people with Your scepter, The flock of Your possession Which dwells by itself in the woodland, In the midst of a fruitful field. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead As in the days of old.
Legacy Standard Bible
Shepherd Your people with Your scepter,The flock of Your inheritanceWhich dwells by itself in the forest,In the midst of a fruitful orchard.Let them feed in Bashan and GileadAs in the ancient days.
Berean Standard Bible
Shepherd with Your staff Your people, the flock of Your inheritance. They live alone in a woodland, surrounded by pastures. Let them graze in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
Contemporary English Version
Lead your people, Lord ! Come and be our shepherd. Grasslands surround us, but we live in a forest. So lead us to Bashan and Gilead, and let us find pasture as we did long ago.
Complete Jewish Bible
Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock that belongs to you, who live alone, like a forest in the middle of a fertile pasture. Let them feed in Bashan and Gil‘ad, as they did in days of old.
Darby Translation
Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine inheritance, dwelling alone in the forest, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
Easy-to-Read Version
So rule your people with your rod. Rule the flock of people who belong to you. That flock lives alone in the woods and up on Mount Carmel. That flock lives in Bashan and Gilead as they did in the past.
George Lamsa Translation
Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy heritage, who shall dwell alone like sheep in the midst of Carmel; let them feed in Mathnin and Gilead, as in the days of old.
Good News Translation
Be a shepherd to your people, Lord , the people you have chosen. Although they live apart in the wilderness, there is fertile land around them. Let them go and feed in the rich pastures of Bashan and Gilead, as they did long ago.
Lexham English Bible
Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock of your inheritance, those dwelling alone in a forest in the midst of Carmel. Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
Literal Translation
Feed Your people with Your rod, the flock of Your possession, dwelling alone in the thicket, amidst Carmel. Let them pasture in Bashan and Gilead, as in days of old.
American Standard Version
Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy heritage, which dwell solitarily, in the forest in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
Bible in Basic English
Keep your people safe with your rod, the flock of your heritage, living by themselves in the woods in the middle of Carmel: let them get their food in Bashan and Gilead as in the past.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Tend Thy people with Thy staff, the flock of Thy heritage, that dwell solitarily, as a forest in the midst of the fruitful field; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Therfore feede thy people with thy rod, the flocke of thyne heritage whiche dwel desolate in the wood, that they may be fed vpon the mount of Carmel, Basan, and Gilead, as aforetime.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Tend thy people with thy rod, the sheep of thine inheritance, those that inhabit by themselves the thicket in the midst of Carmel: they shall feed in the land of Basan, and in the land of Galaad, as in the days of old.
English Revised Version
Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily, in the forest in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
World English Bible
Shepherd your people with your staff, The flock of your heritage, Who dwell by themselves in a forest, In the midst of fertile pasture land, let them feed; In Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Fede thou thi puple in thi yerde, the floc of thin eritage, that dwellen aloone in wielde wode; in the myddil of Carmel thei schulen be fed of Basan and of Galaad,
Update Bible Version
Feed your people with your rod, the flock of your heritage, which dwell solitarily, in the forest in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
Webster's Bible Translation
Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy heritage, who dwell solitarily [in] the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed [in] Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.
New English Translation
Shepherd your people with your shepherd's rod, the flock that belongs to you, the one that lives alone in a thicket, in the midst of a pastureland. Allow them to graze in Bashan and Gilead, as they did in the old days.
New King James Version
Shepherd Your people with Your staff, The flock of Your heritage, Who dwell solitarily in a woodland, In the midst of Carmel; Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, As in days of old.
New Living Translation
O Lord , protect your people with your shepherd's staff; lead your flock, your special possession. Though they live alone in a thicket on the heights of Mount Carmel, let them graze in the fertile pastures of Bashan and Gilead as they did long ago.
New Life Bible
Shepherd Your people with Your power. Take care of Your chosen flock which lives by itself in the woods, in a field of much fruit. Let them eat in Bashan and Gilead as in days long ago.
New Revised Standard
Shepherd your people with your staff, the flock that belongs to you, which lives alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Shepherd thou thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine inheritance, Dwell thou alone, a jungle in the midst of a fruitful field, - Let them feed in Bashan and in Gilead, as in the days of age-past times.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thy inheritance, them that dwell alone in the forest, in the midst of Carmel: they shall feed in Basan and Galaad, according to the days of old.
Revised Standard Version
Shepherd thy people with thy staff, the flock of thy inheritance, who dwell alone in a forest in the midst of a garden land; let them feed in Bashan and Gilead as in the days of old.
Young's Literal Translation
Rule Thou Thy people with Thy rod, The flock of Thine inheritance, Dwelling alone [in] a forest in the midst of Carmel, They enjoy Bashan and Gilead as in days of old.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Therfore fede thy people with thy rodde, the flocke of thine heretage which dwell desolate in the wodde: that they maye be fedde vpon the mount of Charmel, Basan & Galaad as afore tyme.
THE MESSAGE
Shepherd, O God , your people with your staff, your dear and precious flock. Uniquely yours in a grove of trees, centered in lotus land. Let them graze in lush Bashan as in the old days in green Gilead. Reproduce the miracle-wonders of our exodus from Egypt. And the godless nations: Put them in their place— humiliated in their arrogance, speechless and clueless. Make them slink like snakes, crawl like cockroaches, come out of their holes from under their rocks And face our God . Fill them with holy fear and trembling.

Contextual Overview

14 Feed thy people with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old. 15 According to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things. 16 The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf. 17 They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee. 18 Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. 19 He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. 20 Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Feed: or, Rule, Micah 5:4, *marg. Psalms 23:1-4, Psalms 28:9, Psalms 95:7, Psalms 100:3, Isaiah 40:11, Isaiah 49:10, Matthew 2:6, *marg. John 10:27-30

which: Exodus 33:16, Numbers 23:9, Deuteronomy 33:28, John 17:16

in the midst: Isaiah 35:2, Isaiah 37:24, Isaiah 65:10, Jeremiah 50:19, Jeremiah 50:20, Ezekiel 34:13, Ezekiel 34:14, Zephaniah 3:13

as: Psalms 77:5-11, Psalms 143:5, Lamentations 1:7, Lamentations 5:21, Amos 9:11, Malachi 3:4

Reciprocal: Exodus 4:2 - a rod Leviticus 27:32 - passeth under the rod Numbers 17:2 - twelve rods Numbers 32:1 - the place Deuteronomy 32:14 - of Bashan Psalms 23:4 - thy rod Psalms 68:15 - of Bashan Psalms 110:2 - the rod Song of Solomon 7:5 - Carmel Isaiah 11:11 - set his hand Isaiah 33:9 - Bashan Jeremiah 23:4 - I Jeremiah 29:11 - thoughts Jeremiah 33:7 - and will Jeremiah 49:31 - which dwell Ezekiel 34:16 - I will feed Ezekiel 34:31 - ye my Ezekiel 36:11 - and I will settle Ezekiel 37:23 - but Hosea 2:14 - and speak Obadiah 1:19 - Benjamin Micah 2:12 - I will put Micah 7:18 - the remnant Zechariah 9:16 - shall save Zechariah 10:10 - into Acts 3:19 - when Acts 20:28 - all 1 Peter 5:2 - Feed 1 Peter 5:3 - heritage Revelation 7:17 - feed

Cross-References

Genesis 7:2
Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
Genesis 7:3
Of fowls also of the air by sevens, the male and the female; to keep seed alive upon the face of all the earth.
Genesis 7:8
Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth,
Genesis 7:9
There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Feed thy people with thy rod,.... These are either the words of God the Father to Christ, the great Shepherd of the sheep, calling upon him to do his office as such; to feed the people he had given him, the sheep of his hand, the flock of his pasture, by his Spirit, and with his word and ordinances; see Zechariah 11:5; or of Christ to his ministers, his undershepherds, to feed his sheep and his lambs, the people committed to their care and charge, with wholesome words, with sound and good doctrine, by faithfully preaching the Gospel, and administering the ordinances to them: or rather the words of the prophet, a prayer of his to God or Christ, to take care of the people of God in their desolate state, in captivity; to guide and lead them, protect and defend them, by his power and providence, as a shepherd directs, leads, governs, and preserves his flock with his pastoral crook or rod; or, as before, to feed the church of God as a shepherd does his flock, lead them into good pastures, and secure them from all their enemies: and this, being a prayer of faith, may be considered as a prophecy or prediction of what would be; and so some render the words, "thou shalt feed thy people", c. h. The Targum is,

"feed thy people with thy word, the people of thine inheritance, in the age which is to be renewed''

in the new world, the world to come; plainly referring to the times of the Messiah;

the flock of thine heritage; who are like to sheep for their harmlessness and innocence, and to a flock of them, being associated together, and folded in the church; and though but a little flock, yet the lot, the portion, the inheritance of Christ; all which is a strong reason for his feeding, keeping, and preserving them, being committed to his care and charge for that purpose:

which dwell solitary [in] the wood; dwell alone in the world, which is like a wood and a wilderness; separated from the men of the world; distinguished by the grace of God, chosen and called out from among them, and different from them both in principle and practice: this may have respect to the Jews, in their dispersion, living separate from and unmixed with the nations of the world; or rather to their dwelling in safety and security under the protection of the great Shepherd, the Messiah, David their Prince, when they shall be returned to their own land in the latter day:

in the midst of Carmel; or of a fruitful field, as Carmel was; enjoying all happiness and prosperity, temporal and spiritual:

let them feed [in] Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old; places in the land of Israel famous for rich and fat pastures; and so express the great plenty of good things wished for, and which will be enjoyed by the Jews when converted to Christ, and replaced in their own land; and are an emblem of those spiritual good things, and of those rich and green pastures of the word and ordinances, which the great Shepherd is desired to lead, and does lead, his people into; see Psalms 23:1; these places are now in the hand of the Turks, and so the words may be a petition for their conversion, as well as for the Jews, that this country may no more be inhabited by Heathens, but by the Israel of God, as Gulichius i very well observes.

h רעה "pasces", so some in Vatablus. i Apud Burkium in loc.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Feed Thy people with Thy rod - The day of final deliverance was still a great way off. There was a weary interval before them of chastisement, suffering, captivity. So Micah lays down his pastoral office by committing his people to Him who was their true and abiding Shepherd. who that has had the pastoral office, has not thought, as the night drew near in which no man can work, “what will be after him?” Micah knew and foretold the outline. It was for his people a passing through the valley of the shadow of death. Micah then commits them to Him, who had Himself committed them to him, who alone could guide them through it. It is a touching parting with his people; a last guidance of those whom he had taught, reproved, rebuked, in vain, to Him the Good Shepherd who led Israel like a flock. The rod is at times the shepherd’s staff Leviticus 27:32; Psalms 23:4, although more frequently the symbol of chastisement. God’s chastisement of His people is an austere form of His love. So He says, “If his children forsake My law, I will visit their offences with a rod and their sin with scourges: nevertheless My loving-kindness will I not utterly take from them” Psalms 89:31, Psalms 89:33.

The flock of Thine inheritance - So Moses had appealed to God, “Destroy not Thy people and Thine inheritance which Thou hast redeemed through Thy greatness - They are Thy people and Thine inheritance” Deuteronomy 9:26, Deuteronomy 9:29; and Solomon, in his dedication-prayer, that, on their repentance in their captivity, God would forgive His people, “for they be Thy people and Thine inheritance which Thou broughtest forth out of Egypt” 1 Kings 8:51; and Asaph, “O Lord, the pagan are come into Thine inheritance” Psalms 79:1; and again, “Why doth Thine anger smoke against the sheep of Thy pasture? Remember the tribe of Thine inheritance which Thou hast redeemed” Psalms 74:1-2; and Joel, “Spare Thy people and give not Thine heritage to reproach” Joel 2:17; and a Psalmist, “They break in pieces Thy people, O Lord, and afflict Thine heritage” Psalms 94:5; and Isaiah, “Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of Thine inheritance” Isaiah 63:17.

The appeal excludes all merits. Not for any deserts of their’s, (for these were but evil,) did the prophets teach them to pray; but because they were God’s property. It was His Name, which would be dishonored in them; it was His work, which would seemingly come to nothing; it was He, who would be thought powerless to save. Again, it is not God’s way, to leave half-done what He has begun. “Jesus, having loved His own which were in the world, loved them unto the end” John 13:1. God’s love in creating us and making us His, is the earnest, if we will, of His everlasting love. We have been the objects of His everlasting thought, of His everlasting love. Though we have forfeited all claim to Ills love, He has not forfeited the work of His Hands; Jesus has nor forfeited the price of His Blood. So holy men have prayed; , “I believe that Thou hast redeemed me by Thy Blood: permit not the price of the Ransom to perish.” “O Jesus Christ, my only Saviour, let not Thy most bitter Passion and Death be lost or wasted in me, miserable sinner!” .

Which dwell solitarily, or alone - Micah uses the words of Balaam, when he had been constrained by God to bless Israel. “The people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations” Numbers 23:9. Moses had repeated them, “Israel shall dwell in safety alone” Deuteronomy 33:28. This aloneness among other nations, then, was a blessing, springing from God’s being in the midst of them Exodus 33:16, Deuteronomy 4:7, the deeds which He did for them Exodus 34:10; Deuteronomy 4:3, the law which He gave Deuteronomy 4:8, Deuteronomy 4:33. So Moses prayed, “Wherein shall it be known here, that I and Thy people have found grace in Thy sight?” Exodus 33:16, is it “not in that Thou goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and Thy people, from all the people that are on the face of the earth”. It was, then, a separate appeal to God by all His former loving-kindness, whereby He had severed and elected His people for Himself.

In the wood, in the midst of Carmel - God “turneth a fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. He turneth the wilderness into a standing water and dry ground into watersprings” Psalms 107:34, Psalms 107:5. Isaiah at the same time used the like image, that “Lebanon shall be turned into a fruitful field (Carmel), and the fruitful field (Carmel) shall be esteemed as a forest” Isaiah 29:17. The wild forest was to be like the rich domestic exuberance of Carmel (see the note at Amos 1:2). He would say, “Feed Thy people in Babylon, which is to them a wild homeless tract, that it may be to them as their own peaceful Carmel.” Without God, all the world is a wilderness; with God, the wilderness is Paradise.

Let them feed in Basha and Gilead - The former words were a prayer for their restoration. Gilead and Bashan were the great pasture-countries of Palestine (see the note at Amos 1:3, vol. i. p. 234; iv. L p 280), , “a wide tableland, with undulating downs clothed with rich grass throughout,” where the cattle ranged freely.

They were the first possessions, which God had bestowed upon Israel; the first, which they forfeited. Micah prays that God, who protected them in their desolation, would restore and protect them in the green pasture where He placed them. They are a prayer still to the Good Shepherd who laid down His life for His sheep John 10:11, John 10:15, our Lord Jesus Christ, that He would feed His flock whom He has redeemed, who have been given to Him as an inheritance Psalms 2:8, the little flock Luke 12:32, to which it is the Fathers good pleasure to give the kingdom, which cleaveth to Him and shall be heirs with Him Romans 8:17. Cyril: “Christ feedeth His own with a rod, guiding them gently, and repressing by gentle fears the tendency of believers to listlessness. He bruiseth as with a rod of Iron, not them, but the rebellious disobedient and proud, who receive not the faith; believers He instructs and forms tenderly, feeds them among the lilies Song of Solomon 6:3, and leads them into good pastures and rich places, namely the divinely-inspired Scriptures, making the hidden things thereof clear through the Spirit to those of understanding, that they “may grow up unto Him in all things which is the Head, even Christ” Ephesians 4:15, with minds well-fed and nourished and gladdened with all spiritual delights.

But the chosen and elect dwell solitarily, being apart from the rest who think only of the things of earth, and give themselves to the pleasures of sense. So then these, having the mind at rest, freed from the vain and abominable tumults, are placed apart as in a wood and in a mountain. By the wood you may understand, the rich and varied and solid instruction (as it were trees and flowers) both in doctrine and life; by the mountain, what is high and lofty. For none of the wisdom, accounted of in the Church, is low. They are “fed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old”, rich pastures; for the mind of the holy is beautified, delighting itself in the contemplation of the inspired Scriptures, and filled, as it were, with a certain richness, and shares without stint all excellence in though or in deed; and that, not for a brief and narrow season, but forever. For what gladdeneth the flesh falleth therewith and fadeth and hasteth away like a shadow; but the participation of the good things from above and of the Spirit, stretcheth out along endless ages.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Micah 7:14. Feed thy people with thy rod — בשבטך beshibtecha, "with thy crook." The shepherd's crook is most certainly designed, as the word flock immediately following shows. No rod of correction or affliction is here intended; nor does the word mean such.

Solitarily — They have been long without a shepherd or spiritual governor.

In the midst of Carmel — Very fruitful in vines.

Bashan and Gilead — Proverbially fruitful in pasturages.


 
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